Altera unveils process technology strategy for 28-nm product portfolio

SAN JOSE, USA: Altera Corp. has announced its 28-nm process technology strategy targeting its 28-nm product portfolio. In addition to the previously announced support for TSMC’s 28-nm High Performance (28HP) process technology for its high-end FPGA family, Altera will also utilize TSMC's 28-nm Low-Power (28LP) process technology for use in its low-cost and midrange product families.

Leveraging two distinct process technologies in its 28-nm product portfolio enables Altera to provide customers a broad selection of optimized devices. Across high-end, midrange and low-cost products, Altera offers the optimal process technology to address customer needs.

“In today's highly fragmented markets, it is imperative we provide customers with a device that best meets their design requirements without any compromises,” said Vince Hu, vice president of product and corporate marketing at Altera.

“Customers need the highest performance with the highest transceiver speeds at the high end, the lowest cost at the low end, balanced performance and cost at the midrange and low power consumption everywhere. With our 28-nm product portfolio Altera will deliver the broadest product offering we have provided at any previous process node in order to serve these market segments.”

Altera's two-pronged 28-nm process technology strategy allows the company to effectively serve the broadest range of applications. The 28LP process enables Altera to bring costs and power down in its low-cost products to address cost- and power-sensitive applications in market segments that include automotive and industrial.

The 28LP process also enables Altera to deliver an optimal balance of cost, performance and low power within its midrange product family.

The use of 28HP process technology at the high end is critical in delivering the core and transceiver performance required by high-end applications. The 28HP process enables Altera to dramatically increase the capabilities of its high-end FPGAs by incorporating greater levels of functionality, such as 28-Gbps transceivers that will drive the development of next-generation 100G/400G systems.

FPGAs based on the 28HP process specifically target applications that require the highest levels of performance, including high-performance computing, military and wireline systems.

The wide variety of Altera FPGAs leveraging the 28LP and 28HP process technologies enable Altera to address more ASIC and ASSP opportunities in both the high-end, midrange and low-cost markets. Variants of its 28-nm product family that include embedded processors enable the 28-nm FPGAs to displace more digital signal processors and microprocessors.

Engineering samples of Altera's 28-nm Stratix V FPGAs will be available to customers starting in the first quarter of 2011. Customers can start their Stratix V FPGA designs now by using Altera's Quartus II software. Additional 28-nm FPGA families will be announced in 2011.