Date: 02/11/2010

Achronix Semiconductor to make high density FPGAs using Intel's 22nm fab

Intel has agreed to share its 22nm semiconductor fab resources to FPGA developer Achronix Semiconductor in producing world's most high logic density FPGAs. FPGA from Achronix Semiconductor based on 22nm process are expected to outdo in performance compared to 28nm chips developed by Xilinx and made in TSMC's fabs. But when Intel is offering 22nm process it takes only little time before TSMC or any other fab including globalfoundries announcing 22nm process for FPGA making.

The idea here is as Achronix said in its release "Speedster22i will be the first commercial FPGA family that can be manufactured in the United States of America, making it the ideal platform for military and aerospace applications requiring "on shore" silicon". Speedster22i is family name of FPGA devices made by Achronix Semiconductor.

This is a huge gain for Achronix to take on Xilinx and Altera in the lucrative FPGA market, which may even register close to 50% growth in 2010.