ATI 28nm Southern Islands ,the next generation

ATI's next generation was revealed to be N. Islands on an official roadmap back in 2009. It was meant to be a 32nm process, with release sometime between Q4 2010 and Q1 2011. Unfortunately, thanks to TSMC's 40nm botch-up, they lost confidence in the 32nm half-node, and canceled it completely - seeking to put their focus on 28nm.

This meant ATI's N. Islands had to be moved to 28nm, with a delay. TSMC kept slipping 28nm as well, and soon, it was quite apparent 28nm would not be ready in time for the delayed release of NI in Q1 2011.

As for Nvidia - GF100 is no doubt a promising architecture, but it is screaming for a 28nm die shrink. Either that, or a complete revision from scratch. It seems unlikely either would happen before ATI releases S. Islands, which could be by the end of this year.
 

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