When we initially saw the die size that GT200 was released at last month, we knew that NVIDIA would be trying to get it moved from a 65nm process technology to 55nm very soon – money talks as the saying goes.  It looks like the green GPU giant is going to get 55nm running by the end of the quarter and could even have 40nm tape outs by the end of the year!



In order to lower production costs, Nvidia is expected to fully advance to 55nm generation manufacturing in the second half of this year and will have 4-5 new GPUs produced under 55nm before the end of this quarter, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. Meanwhile both Nvidia and AMD are hoping to complete their 40nm tape-outs by the end of this year, the paper added.

Currently, Nvidia’s GT200 and G92b GPUs have already adopted a 55nm process and the company’s mid-range G96, which will launch by the end this month, will come in both 65nm and 55nm versions. However, the company’s upcoming GPUs including G94b, G96b and G98b, which are scheduled to launch after August, will all use a 55nm process from either Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) or United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) with average costs expected to drop around 20%, added the paper.