Reuters reports that Motorola is set to beat Intel by at least six months with the manufacture of next-generation microchips built on 90-nanometer circuitry. While the initial production of such chips is aimed at wireless products and low-power applications, Motorola said that it will also ramp up production of high-performance chips with the new manufacturing technology.
Motorola, in partnership with STMicroelectronics and Philips, unveiled a new design platform earlier this week based around the circuitry, which is cheaper to produce, faster and more energy-efficient than the 130-nanometer standard in use now. Motorola provides PowerPC CPUs used by Apple in Macs.
Motorola semiconductor vice president Chris Belden said the new technology will reduce costs and increase capability in its wireless handsets and other products that will use the new circuitry. He also said that 90-nanometer circuitry would be used in high-performance chips by the end of this year.
Both Intel and AMD also plan to switch to 90-nanometer technology; Intel said it’d do so by late next year, while AMD has not yet specified when it will do so.
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