IBM and partners show off 28nm chip

IBM and several of their partners such as Infineon, Samsung, STMicroelectronics and Chartered Semiconductor are working together to create a 28-nm chip that requires less power and features a high-k metal gate bulk complementary metal oxide, so says an announcement released yesterday.

This new chip would be mostly used in portable devices like MIDs. What's really great about these new chips is that they will use 20% less power yet gain 40% in performance when compared to the current 45nm chips.

What's particularly useful about this is that those using 32nm chips will be able to transition to the 28nm ones easily, without a complete overhaul of the system. Production is expected to begin sometime next year.