ARM has teamed up with GlobalFoundries to work on the 20nm process node and FinFET technology.

ARM, formerly Advanced RISC Machine and Acorn RISC Machine, already was in close collaboration with TSMC to provide hard macros for several designs that use TSMC’s 28nm process node.

Now the firm wants to extend its reach and has sealed a deal with GlobalFoundries to develop a system-on-chip (SoC) design customized for the latter’s upcoming 20nm process node that uses FinFET technology.

Based on ARM’s statement, the partnership will reduce time requirements for customers to design and develop chips that can be fabricated at GlobalFoundries. The company announced that it intends to optimize ARM Cortex CPUs and ARM Mali GPUs for the upcoming process node.

“Customers designing for mobile, tablet and computing applications will benefit extensively from the energy efficient ARM processor and graphics processor included in this collaboration. By proactively working together to enable next-generation 20nm-LPM and FinFET process technologies, our mutual customers can be assured a range of implementation options that will enable two more generations of advanced semiconductor devices,” said Simon Segars, EVP and GM of the Processor and Physical IP Divisions at ARM.

The Tri-Gate transistor technology of Intel is a subset of FinFET, which falls under the category of multi-gate transistors. Chip sellers and producers have worked on the technology for more than a decade but only in the past two years has it turned into a workable technology for CMOS processors.

Neither ARM nor GlobalFoundries announced the length of their partnership, but the 20nm process node is far from realization, so TSMC should not yet show concern on boosting its 28nm process node.

Image: comedy_nose via Flickr (CC)

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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