12nm

12nm refers to a semiconductor manufacturing process node that has been used as a marketing label by several chipmakers to describe a family of increasingly compact transistor technologies. Like other “nm” nodes, 12nm is not a single uniform specification across manufacturers; the exact geometry, transistor types, and design rules can vary between foundries and product lines. In practice, 12nm process variants are generally derived from earlier 14nm or 16nm families and represent a shrink intended to improve performance, power efficiency, or density.

Technologically, 12nm implementations typically employ FinFET transistors and rely on advanced lithography and process optimizations to pack more devices into the same silicon area. The improvements over the preceding generation are intended to yield higher clock speeds, lower dynamic power, and reduced leakage, though the magnitude of these gains depends on the specific process design, tooling, and use case. Design teams often face challenges common to advanced nodes, such as tighter timing budgets, increased parasitics, and yield considerations during ramp-up.

In industry practice, 12nm is one of several mid-generation nodes used for application processors, GPUs, and other integrated circuits. It has been adopted by multiple companies at different times and for various products, but it is largely viewed as a transitional or marketing-aligned label rather than a precisely standardized node. Since the early 2010s, the semiconductor industry has increasingly relied on a range of process variants and performance targets rather than a single, universal feature-size metric.

Overall, 12nm denotes a class of shrink-focused process technologies intended to balance performance, power, and density, with specifics varying by supplier and product.