AMD's next-gen Navi could be 40% faster than RX Vega

Globalfoundries has announced that it will have its next-gen 7nm FinFET technology begin hitting the production line in 1H 2018, providing up to 40% more performance to 7nm-based products, and more.

The company said that its new 7nm FinFET design kits are available right now, with "volume production" expected in 2H 2018, an exciting next 12 months ahead of us. The step down to 7nm will provide improvements at the transistor and process levels, with the 7LP tech beating expectations for performance, with over 40% more processing power and twice the area scaling than the current-gen 14nm FinFET node.

Globalfoundries is taking design orders from customers for its 7nm technology, in Saratoga County, N.Y. Senior VP of Globalfoundries, Gregg Bartlett, explains: "Our 7nm FinFET technology development is on track and we are seeing strong customer traction, with multiple product tapeouts planned in the next twelve months. And, while driving to commercialize 7-nm in 2018, we are actively developing next-generation technologies at 5-nm and beyond to ensure our customers have access to a world-class roadmap at the leading edge".

• Read more: TSMC's new 2nm node progressing smoothly: matching 5nm, surpassing 3nm, 7nm at similar stages
• Read more: Intel 18A process is 'finally ready' with chips to tape-out in 1H 2025 to battle TSMC

Now, this has quite a lot to do with AMD's next-gen Navi GPU architecture, as they will be tapping Globalfoundries' new 7nm node - and with the manufacturing giant saying that their 7LP technology is "exceeding initial performance targets and is expected to deliver greater than 40 percent more processing power" over the current-gen 14nm process, we should expect quite a lot from Navi.

Navi is posed for a 2H 2018 release, and depending on how Radeon RX Vega performs, AMD might need it - especially with whatever NVIDIA counter punches Vega with. Although a few comments have been passed through me from my industry sources who have said that Vega "could be very promising", if AMD can take Vega by the hand and perform a perfect 10/10 in front of the judges - you, me, and the rest of the gamers and enthusiasts out there - Navi is going to take things to the stars, hopefully.