Firstpost
  • Home
  • Video Shows
    Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
  • World
    US News
  • Explainers
  • News
    India Opinion Cricket Tech Entertainment Sports Health Photostories
  • Asia Cup 2025
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
Trending:
  • Nepal protests
  • Nepal Protests Live
  • Vice-presidential elections
  • iPhone 17
  • IND vs PAK cricket
  • Israel-Hamas war
fp-logo
Intel shrinks its chips as transistors go 3D
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
  • Home
  • Tech
  • News & Analysis
  • Intel shrinks its chips as transistors go 3D

Intel shrinks its chips as transistors go 3D

Seema Singh • May 5, 2011, 18:08:16 IST
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter

After 3D movies, 3D TV, 3D printing, it is now time for 3D transistors.

Advertisement
Subscribe Join Us
Add as a preferred source on Google
On
Google
Prefer
Firstpost
Intel shrinks its chips as transistors go 3D

The chipmaker says it was needed to continue Moore’s Law, but more importantly, it was needed to get Intel its competitive edge back.

After 3D movies, 3D TV, 3D printing, it’s now time for 3D transistors. Ushering in a historic moment for the microprocessor technology – that still follows Moore’s Law of packing more computing power in silicon almost every 24 months – Intel said on May 4/5 (depending on which side of the Atlantic you live) it has introduced a fundamental change in the chip design, a 3D transistor.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD

[caption id=“attachment_4527” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Tech traffic: Intel-3D.”] ![](https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Intel.jpg "Intel") [/caption]

A transistor is the most basic building block of a chip and this 3D one allows Intel’s microprocessors to not only shrink in size but offer better performance and much reduced power consumption. In fact, moving from 32 nm planar chips to 22 nm 3D chips, the power saving is as much as 50%.

More from News & Analysis
What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

It’s terrific news for electronics equipment makers who strive to satisfy consumer preference for long-lasting batteries, especially in mobile devices. Intel’s new chips, 22 nanometer (nm), with 3D tri-gate transistors will start rolling out by the end of the year and you will find them in desktops, notebooks, tablets and smart phones sometime next year.

A research that started in 2002 will culminate in a product mid 2012 – a decadal progress it might seem but the chipmaker has consistently shrunk its chip size - from 90 nm in 2003 to 22 nm in 2011, with changes in materials, and now in structures.

Apart from consumer electronics, one of the biggest beneficiaries would be cloud servers in data centers where the struggle for power saving and cooling is perpetual. In fact, often times data centers are located near rivers to provide sufficient cooling. Even designed in a way, as Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz once said, that data centers in places like New York (which experience winter for a good part of the year) depend on the icy winter breeze to get natural cooling and save power.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD

What does Tri-Gate mean for the industry? Does AMD have a similar technology in pipeline? If not, then it’s not good news. Competition is always healthy. And we needn’t look further than the chip industry for examples.

In the teleconference today, we didn’t get a sense of what Intel’s strategy is in getting this design to its popular Atom architecture or whether it’ll license it to other companies.

Whatever its market strategy may be, 3D transistors show once again that the microprocessor lead that Gordon Moore gave Intel 42 years ago remains unbeaten even today!

Tags
Moore's law Intel Corporation Carol Bartz
End of Article
Written by Seema Singh
Email

From her perch in Bangalore as a Senior Editor at Forbes India, Seema usually writes about science and technology. She believes that while we may have settled into consuming the nicely packaged final products of science -- technology being a hand maiden of science -- we are distancing ourselves from all the effort that goes into it. This blog is an attempt to bring an occasional peek into those efforts and ideas. see more

Latest News
Find us on YouTube
Subscribe
End of Article

Top Stories

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Top Shows

Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
Latest News About Firstpost
Most Searched Categories
  • Web Stories
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • IPL 2025
NETWORK18 SITES
  • News18
  • Money Control
  • CNBC TV18
  • Forbes India
  • Advertise with us
  • Sitemap
Firstpost Logo

is on YouTube

Subscribe Now

Copyright @ 2024. Firstpost - All Rights Reserved

About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms Of Use
Home Video Shorts Live TV