NVIDIA 40nm GPUs expected by end of Q3 2009

NVIDIA are expected to announce two new GPUs at the end of September 2009, built using 40nm processes.  The NVIDIA GeForce GT220 (GT216) and GeForce G210 (GT218) have been tipped by sources at graphics card manufacturers, with the products expected to go up against ATI's Mobility Radeon HD 4860 and 4830 products.

The company was believed to have been planning 40nm GPUs for earlier in the year, but forced to delay the launch after its hardware partner TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) demonstrated unacceptably low yields on 40nm processes.  TSMC have now improved their yield rate, however, allowing NVIDIA to target the holiday sales with their new GPU range.

By switching to 40nm processes, the GPUs can be smaller and more suited to ultraportable notebooks.  Graphics cards using the new NVIDIA chips are yet to be announced.