I can never remember what xnm means as it varies between companies.
In this case,
Samsung's 3nm = Intel's 7nm
I am still waiting for a standard based on transistor density numbers!
In this case,
Samsung's 3nm = Intel's 7nm
I am still waiting for a standard based on transistor density numbers!
Intel 4 was estimated to be up to 200M gates/mmsq. I don't think we have exact numbers since Intel only released numbers for their previous 10nm plan, which were heavily revised for Tigerlake iirc. I think Intel 3 is a variant of Intel 4 so 3GAA will presumably be similar to Intel 3.
edit: slides of the 3nm conference yesterday https://twitter.com/stshank/status/1445924295121592321/photo...
then there was windows. have you actually heard an elite hipster tell you, a professional highly paid tech guy, that mac is superior because windows is behind on operating systems? not because unix is better. no, because windows was "8" and mac was "10." X is the roman numeral for "10" you see, and 10 is a later version than 8. So ms ended up skipping windows 9.
There was a defined standard for process sizes. A bunch of unethical marketing scammers used half-truths to scam people. It worked, because people can't even figure out a hamburger. And now the people who followed the long-established standard have to switch to the scammer's standard, because they still need that hamburger guy's money.
Here's the problem with customers... You need their money.
Intel has renamed their node so the industry has now pretty much standardise on naming. Where all 3nm from Samsung, TSMC and Intel will have similar transistor density. ( But not similar performance or any other characteristic )
Officially Intel doesn't use 4nm or 3nm, they call it Intel 4 or Intel 3. But for the sake of easier comparison most people still use Intel 4nm to describe it.
Creating chips with an accuracy of 1nm does not mean 1nm transistors.
But 1nm sounds good as marketing.