British chip designer ARM Holdings (ARMH) and contract chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM 2.84%) today announced the first "tape-out" of a Cortex-A57 processor on TSMC's FinFET process technology. A tape-out indicates completion of the initial processor design and shows that a chip is ready for mass production.
The Cortex-A57 is a high-performance 64-bit processor that will inevitably find its way into mobile devices. The Cortex-A57 is one of the first 64-bit processor designs from ARM. ARM and TSMC have been collaborating on development to optimize ARM's newest processor series on TSMC's 16-nanometer FinFET process.
The new chips are expected to deliver dramatic performance improvements alongside power efficiency gains.
