AnandTech here:
anandtech.com
claims the A8 is 89mm2, which gives a transistor density of about 22.5M/mm2. This beats Intel's Core-M density of 15.6M/mm2 by 1.44x. Further, Core-M has two die, 82mm2 of 14nm (the CPU) + about 51mm2 of 22nm (the PCH) for a total die area of 133mm2. Some of the functionality of the PCH is also external in apple systems, so not quite totally fare here, but still the A8 is a much cheaper chip than Core-M, and looks like it will have very good performance as well.
Apple on a TSMC 20nm process handily trounces Intel's own designs on their 14nm process. This is something we have seen now at the 22nm node, were the Foundries (TSMC, GF, and Samsung) all easily trounced Intel's 22nm process in density. The Foundries will squeeze out a bit of density improvement from 20nm -> 14nm, (they claim 10% or so), so Apple has a very competitive position going forward on the silicon side, with little concern for what Intel tries to do in smartphones. Intel will basically not be competitive in 2014 or 2015 in smartphones. The only thing they can do is keep trying to buy their way in. |
