[FPGAhacker]

Exactly what he said.

It’s a marketing number and has been for many years.

[rbanffy]

They could at least use a number that would reflect the current transistor density if they could have that number of nm with planar 1980's transistors.

[WithinReason]

It does reflect transistor density. You can check this yourself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_count#Microprocesso...

[mjrpes]

Back in 2019 Intel suggested the industry do this: https://www.anandtech.com/show/13405/intel-10nm-cannon-lake-...

But nm size is so baked into culture, it didn't take off.

[bee_rider]

Transistor density for just, like, a grid of unconnected transistors? Or some reference design or something like that?

IMO it is interesting to get a general idea of where the companies are, but in the end the element size doesn’t matter to end users. People should check the linpack benchmarks of the chips that come out, or whatever.

[wmf]

That's what it is.

[adastra22]

It has nothing to do with transistor density, and hasn't for twenty years.