February 18, 2004 – Infineon Technologies AG has joined the X Initiative, a semiconductor supply-chain consortium promoting the new X-architecture chip design process, and has successfully fabricated a 130nm test chip.

The X-architecture orients a chip’s interconnect wires using diagonal pathways in addition to traditional right-angle (Manhattan style) configurations, improving chip performance due to the reduction in wires and vias.

Toshiba produced the first functional silicon at 90nm using X Architecture in October 2003, and UMC declared in December its readiness to accept X Architecture designs for 180nm, 150nm, and 130nm processes.