ATI nutzt X-Design für neue Grafikprozessoren

Beim X-Design werden die Lagen abwechselnd um 45 Grad gedreht aufeinander angebracht, womit sich die Kabelwege um rund 20 Prozent verkürzen lassen. Das Produktdesign, vor allem in Bezug auf interne Verbindungen, wird einfacher und die Reaktionszeiten der Chips werden schneller. Auf diese Weise lassen sich die Kosten sowie die Verlustleistung signifikant senken, teilten die beteiligten Unternehmen mit.

Pressemitteilung

X Initiative Honors ATI and TSMC with Design-To-Manufacturing Catalyst Award

Consortium Marks Fourth Anniversary with Fabless Industry's First X Architecture Chip

The X Initiative, a semiconductor design-chain consortium chartered with accelerating the availability and fabrication of the X Architecture, today announced that ATI Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ATYT) (TSX: ATY) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) (TAIEX: 2330, NYSE: TSM) are the recipients of the Initiative's 2005 Design-to-Manufacturing Catalyst Award. The award was presented in Anaheim, Calif., at the X Initiative's Fourth Anniversary Open Forum, held in conjunction with the Design Automation Conference (DAC).

The X Initiative steering group selected ATI and TSMC for their pioneering collaboration to produce the foundry industry's first X Architecture chip. ATI, Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CDN) (Nasdaq: CDN), TSMC, and the X Initiative announced earlier this week the successful fabrication of the high-performance, high-volume PCI-Express graphics chip using the X Architecture.

Presenting the award to ATI and TSMC, Jan Willis, senior vice president of Industry Alliances at Cadence and X Initiative steering group facilitator, noted, "ATI and TSMC's effort on this milestone chip is a prime example of how no one company can do it alone—design chain leaders must cooperate to enable significant advances in the semiconductor industry. In 2005, the year of first X products, ATI's industry-first fabless chip reiterates production readiness of the X Architecture as well as its compelling cost and performance benefits. The X Initiative is pleased to recognize the contributions of ATI and TSMC with this year's Design-to-Manufacturing Catalyst Award."

ATI's graphics chip was implemented using the Cadence X Architecture design solution and fabricated in TSMC's 0.11-micron process. This X Architecture implementation eliminated one metal layer from the original Manhattan design, reducing die costs.

"As a leader in the fabless semiconductor industry, ATI is an early adopter of new design technologies and we are delighted that our joint efforts with TSMC have set the stage for a broader adoption of the X Architecture," said Greg Buchner, vice president of Engineering at ATI. "We are honored to receive this award for producing the fabless industry's first chip using the X Architecture."

"ATI's high-performance chip has been a valuable collaborative vehicle to establish production readiness of the X Architecture at TSMC," said Dr. Ping Yang, TSMC vice president, R&D. "The X Architecture is a viable design alternative."