Advanced Micro Devices on Monday promoted Mario Silveira to lead worldwide consumer sales within the company's computing and graphics business unit. Mario Silveira, who is 40 years old, joined AMD in 2010 and most recently served as head of consumer go-to-market sales for the EMEA region. Mr. Silveira will report …
Read More »Samsung begins mass production of chips using 14nm FinFET process tech
Samsung Electronics has begun volume production of semiconductors using 14nm FinFET fabrication process in accordance with its plans outlined earlier this year. The company does not disclose which chips it produces using its 14LPE (low-power early) manufacturing technology and for which companies. Kim Ki-nam, president of Samsung's semiconductor business and …
Read More »AMD may roll-out GCN successor in 2016
Advanced Micro Devices may introduce its all-new graphics architecture in late 2015 and then ramp it up in 2016. At least, Mark Papermaster, chief technology officer of AMD, implied on such scenario this week. Graphics architectures from ATI Technologies and Advanced Micro Devices live active life for about four years …
Read More »AMD: We have bright future in 2016 and ahead
Advanced Micro Devices may not have a clear product roadmap for 2015, when it essentially will continue selling current-generation products and will not increase performance of its chips significantly. Nonetheless, the company pins many hopes on its 2016 lineup when it will have a number of new products that are …
Read More »AMD: first products made using 14nm/16nm FinFET are ‘on track’
Although Advanced Micro Devices has not revealed any details about its 2015 roadmap this year, the company continues to unveil pieces of the puzzle. Last week the firm implied that it will use 20nm fabrication process for select products, but on Tuesday AMD hinted that products made using 14nm and 16nm …
Read More »AMD: Console chip business is thriving, margins to grow to 20%+
Semi-custom system-on-chips for video-game consoles account for a significant portion of AMD’s sales. Many market observers have been concerned that while SoCs for Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 bring in huge revenue, profit margin of such business may be negligible. While the margins of the SoCs are below …
Read More »AMD downplays 20nm process tech: only ‘certain’ products will use it
Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday implied that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s 20nm fabrication process would only be used for select products, whereas the main focus of the chip designer is on more advanced fabrication processes with FinFET transistors. Unfortunately, AMD did not reveal any actual plans. “From an overall standpoint, today …
Read More »AMD: GlobalFoundries makes APUs, CPUs, GPUs and console chips for us
GlobalFoundries, the world’s second largest contract maker of semiconductors, has leading edge process technologies and advanced fabs. However, in the recent years the company had to significantly alter its plans, which affected its performance and relations with customers. Fortunately, according to AMD, a key client of GF, the problems seem …
Read More »Samsung’s own CPU and GPU cores in design stage, due next year
Samsung Electronics has world-class semiconductor manufacturing facilities and leading-edge process technologies. While the company designs its own system-on-chips for mobile devices, Samsung continues to use application processors from Qualcomm for its high-end smartphones and extensively uses intellectual property from ARM Holdings and Imagination Technologies. Apparently, Samsung wants to change that …
Read More »AMD’s ‘Carrizo’ processor may never make it to desktop computers
Although AMD’s next-generation accelerated processing unit (APU) code-named “Carrizo” employs the company’s upcoming high-performance “Excavator” x86 cores, they may never make it to high-performance desktop computers as AMD tailored its forthcoming APUs specifically for mobile devices. In order to cut-down power consumption of “Carrizo” chips compared to current-generation “Kaveri” APUs, …
Read More »AMD to boost energy efficiency of APUs by 25 times by 2020
Advanced Micro Devices recently set a goal to improve energy efficiency of its accelerated processing units by 25 times by 2020. To achieve this goal, AMD will have to outpace historical energy efficiency trend by over 70 per cent, but the company claims it knows what to do and even …
Read More »ASML readies equipment to produce 5nm chips
We do not know exactly when companies like Intel Corp., Samsung Electronics or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. make their first chips using 7nm, 5nm, 3nm or 2nm process technologies. But we do know what should happen before leading semiconductor producers manufacture their new chips using ultra-thin process technologies: ASML should sell …
Read More »TSMC to have four EUV scanners in 2015, to use EUV tools for 10nm chips
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has ordered two additional extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography scanners from ASML Holding. The equipment will be delivered in 2015 and will complement initial two EUV scanners TSMC has today, which will be upgraded. Four scanners will let TSMC make chips using 10nm process technology and EUV lithography …
Read More »AMD delays financial day event as it rethinks its roadmap
Advanced Micro Devices traditionally holds its Financial Day for investors and financial analysts in November, just like Intel Corp. However, it will not host the event this year as it is reshaping its roadmap and reconsiders its goals going forward. A spokesperson for AMD has confirmed KitGuru that the company …
Read More »AMD and Asmedia sign chipset development outsourcing deal – report
Advanced Micro Devices and Asmedia have reportedly signed a pact under which the latter will develop core-logic sets for the former. The move will help AMD to reduce its expenses and use internal engineering resources to develop leading-edge microprocessors and graphics processing units. Earlier this year AMD licensed SATA Express-related …
Read More »AMD: Chips for tablets are not our priority
Although Advanced Micro Devices has developed several generations of chips for tablet PCs, it has not shipped a lot of them because makers of tablets were not too interested in making slates based on x86 processors and Microsoft Windows operating system. As a result, AMD now believes that chips for tablets are …
Read More »Samsung asks ITC to ban sales of Nvidia GeForce GPUs, Tegra SoCs in the U.S.
Samsung Electronics on Friday filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission asking to stop sales of Nvidia Corp.’s GeForce graphics processing units as well as Tegra system-on-chips since they infringe its patents. The move is a yet another step in the legal battle between Nvidia and Samsung, which …
Read More »AMD announces ‘Carrizo’, ‘Carrizo-L’ APUs for laptops, AiO desktops
Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday formally announced its code-named “Carrizo” and “Carrizo-L” accelerated processing units (APUs) that integrate the company’s next-generation general-purpose and graphics processing units. The new chips will arrive in the first half of next year and will target similar-class devices, including notebooks, 2-in-1s, all-in-one desktops and some …
Read More »AMD to drop prices of ‘Kaveri’ APUs, to discontinue A10-7700K
Advanced Micro Devices plans to lower prices of its A-series “Kaveri” accelerated processing units, according to a media report. The company wants to fight back some market share from Intel Corp. before the end of the year and will lower prices of popular APUs so that to make them more …
Read More »AMD to reveal technical details about ‘Carrizo’ APU early next year
Advanced Micro Devices will reveal all technical details about its next-generation code-named “Carrizo” accelerated processing unit in late February, 2015, at the 2015 IEEE international Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). Although many things about the chip are already known, AMD managed to create an intrigue by squeezing in 28 per cent …
Read More »Intel and MSI to return up to £110/€140 to owners of latest mainboards and CPUs
MicroStar International and Intel Corp. on Monday announced a new cashback promotion that will help owners of certain Intel and MSI products to get some cash back. The promotion will work in multiple European countries, including the U.K. From the 16th of November until the 27th of December, 2014, MSI …
Read More »Intel changes Quark roadmap, preps fully-integrated Quark SoC in 2016
Intel Corp.’s Quark system-on-chips for extreme-ultra-low-power devices provide basic compute capabilities for smart appliances, simple robots and even wearable gadgets, but there are a number of reasons that prevent them from becoming popular. Among the key points of Intel’s concerns about the Quark family is low-performance, limited amount of I/O …
Read More »Samsung vs. Nvidia and Velocity Micro: A deeper look
Samsung Electronics this week responded to Nvidia Corp.’s allegations with its own lawsuit, where it accuses Nvidia and its partner Velocity Micro of infringing its patents. While the main reason why Samsung sued Velocity Micro, a well-known privately-held PC maker, is tactical, it should be noted that the charges which …
Read More »TSMC begins to risk-produce 16FF+ chips for Nvidia, MediaTek, LG, Xilinx, others
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on Wednesday said that it has begun producing chips using its 16nm FinFET+ (16FF+) manufacturing technology. The new process technology will be used by a number of TSMC’s partners to make their leading edge chips due next year. Among the first companies to adopt the improved 16nm …
Read More »Invecas to help GlobalFoundries’ clients to migrate to new technologies
GlobalFoundries, a contract maker of semiconductors, has signed a deal with Invecas, a newly formed design services provider. Under the terms of the agreement, Invecas will help customers of GlobalFoundries to design chips to be made using leading-edge semiconductor process technologies. It is not an easy task to design chips …
Read More »Intel Core M processors to power 5% – 10% of notebooks next year – report
Intel Corp.’s Core M microprocessors boast impressively low power consumption and heat dissipation, which will enable new types of low-power/ultra-thin personal computers. Unfortunately, due to limited performance provided by the Core M chips, their adoption will be limited too, according to a media report. Only around 5 – 10 per …
Read More »PlayStation 4 Slim, possibly with lower price, could emerge next year
Last week it transpired that Advanced Micro Devices is already working on a 20nm version of system-on-chip for Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox One game console, which will enable the software giant to introduce a smaller and cheaper version of its system sometimes in 2015. Keeping in mind that Sony Corp.’s PlayStation …
Read More »Intel’s building channel inventory could impact future sales – analyst
Intel Corp. has been reporting strong financial results this year since it gained market share from Advanced Micro Devices, enjoyed increased sales of corporate PCs and introduced rather competitive products for various market segments. However, the success of Intel’s products could also has its disadvantage: since the company is boosting …
Read More »Intel quietly expands Core M ‘Broadwell’ family of chips
Intel Corp. has quietly added new Core M “Broadwell” microprocessors into its lineup of chips. The new central processing units consume up to 4.5W of energy and are designed for high-performance tablets, hybrid 2-in-1 systems as well as ultra-thin notebooks. The new CPUs can operate at higher frequencies than their …
Read More »Intel rumoured to delay mainstream ‘Skylake’ processors for notebooks
Even though some of Intel’s confidential roadmaps show that the world’s largest manufacturer of microprocessor plans to start shipments of select central processing units based on the code-named “Skylake” micro-architecture as early as in the second quarter of 2015, a new market rumour indicates that Intel plans to postpone introduction …
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