ARM, GlobalFoundries to work on 28-nm HKMG process

LONDON — Processor and physical intellectual property provider ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England) and chipmaker GlobalFoundries Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) have agreed a deal to support customers implement the Cortex-A9 processor on GlobalFoundries 28-nm high-k metal-gate manufacturing process.

The announcement was expected after reports a week ago that the two companies were in talks.

The SoC enablement program is built around a suite of ARM physical IP, so-called fabric IP and processor IP. The collaborative efforts of the partnership will focus initially on enabling SoC products which use Cortex-A9. The GlobalFoundries 28-nm gate-first HKMG technology is optimized for minimal leakage current making it a suitable choice for battery-operated applications, GlobalFoundries said.

"This announcement reflects our business value and strategy of providing best in class processor implementation by marrying our own processor and physical IP with world class manufacturing semiconductor technology," said Warren East, chief executive officer of ARM, in a statement issued by GlobalFoundries. "This collaboration with GlobalFoundries and their commitment to delivering leading-edge technology makes them an ideal partner to accelerate the adoption of ARM processor based technology at 28-nm."

"This relationship further advances our strong focus to partner with industry leaders in processor design to deliver manufacturing and technology excellence at the leading edge," said Doug Grose, chief executive officer of GlobalFoundries, in the same statement. "This highly complementary partnership leverages ARM's architectural leadership along with GlobalFoundries' advanced technology to enable the deployment of 28-nm SoC designs with exceptional performance for next-generation consumer devices."

The companies did not disclose how quickly chips based on the collaboration could be brought to market. ARM expects its processors to be on 32-nm processes in 2010. GlobalFoundries has its manufacturing base in Dresden, Germany, a fab under construction in New York state and is in the process of acquiring control of Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing in Singapore.

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