Biggish blue has carried out the first test silicon on the 7nm process node. The new chips were built in partnership with GlobalFoundries, Samsung, and IBM's equipment providers at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.

This would make them the first 7nm chip and they appear to use Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) and silicon germanium (SiGe).

IBM 's 7nm process uses a 30nm fin pitch which could give anything Intel, TSMC, and Samsung 14nm a good kicking .

At the moment we don't know if IBM's 30nm pitch at 7nm will be smaller than what Intel debuts at that node. IBM is claiming that7nm will deliver a 50 per cent area scaling improvement over and above 10nm, and at least a 50 per cent power/performance improvement.

IBM's switch to silicon germanium was expected. As process nodes become ever-smaller, silicon is insufficient for delivering the kind of performance improvements that companies like IBM and Intel want to bring to the table. Silicon germanium (SiGe) is a popular option for the p-channel.

IBM is claiming that its current 7nm chips integrate EUV manufacturing "at multiple levels." That implies that the firm has had a major breakthrough in EUV production or it is embellishing things a little.

It is good news for GloFlo which seems to have become bigger and now have some leading technology to play with.