Toshiba to mass produce 28 nanometre chips

TOSHIBA said it will start mass producing 28-nanometre (nm) system chips this next year.

According to Reuters, the move is part of the Japanese manufacturers' plan to stay relevant in a chip world ruled by Chipzilla and Texas Instruments.

Toshiba is the world's second-largest maker of NAND flash memory chips, but its systems chip business has been struggling.

The company is part of an IBM-led group of firms that are developing 28nm process technologies together. The group had intended to start mass-producing 32nm chips next year, but it now plans to skip 32nm production and move straight to 28nm processes.

Systems chips are getting progressively smaller as manufacturers try to reduce costs and jack up their processing power. µ