ARM announces plans for 20nm chips

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Chip designer ARM has announced an agreement with semiconductor manufacturer TSMC that could lead to tinier chips that are both more powerful and more energy efficient. Specifically, the two companies plan to develop technology allowing ARM chips to be built first with a 28nm process and then a ridiculously tiny 20nm process.

The most recent chips from ARM and TSCM, for example, use a 40nm process.

ARM says the agreement will allow the company to start developing the technology for the new chips as soon as possible — although it could be a while before we see these new chips hit the streets.

ARM’s low power chips power smartphones, embedded systems including set top boxes and a growing number of tablet and smartbook-style computers.[/img]