Intel, Toshiba, and Samsung To Co-Develop Next-Gen Chips

Powerhouse chipmakers Intel Corp, Toshiba Corp and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd are teaming up to co-develop next-gen technologies that could more than halve semiconductor line widths to nearly 10 nanometers by 2016

The world's top makers of  NAND-type, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba, together with world's largest chipmaker Intel, intend to form a consortium that will include 10 more firms operating in semiconductor materials and related fields.

Intel general manager William Holt said chip making was getting increasingly more complicated the smaller the manufacturing process is becoming, hence the need for this latest co-operation in the industry.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will sponsor 50% of the initial funds roughly estimated at 100 billion yen. while rest will be covered by the members of the consortium.

Toshiba and Samsung plan to use the next-gen technologies to make 10 nanometer-class NAND flash memory and other chips, while Intel will likely use it to develop faster microprocessors.

A nanometer is a millionth of a millimeter, or a hair's width divided by 100,000.

[Source: Nikkei.com]