Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday revealed that it had signed a new wafer supply agreement (WSA) with GlobalFoundries for 2015. Based on the disclosed terms of the agreement, AMD will significantly reduce purchases from GlobalFoundries, which indicates that the company projects further declines of PC-related product shipments this year. Under …
Read More »AMD to focus on high-performance server CPUs, abandons SeaMicro
Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday said that as a part of the strategy to simplify and sharpen the company’s investment focus, AMD would exist the micro-server systems business, which was formerly known as SeaMicro. The company will retain SeaMicro’s Freedom fabric and other intellectual property, but will cease to invest …
Read More »Intel: We are not discussing our 10nm schedules
Intel Corp. is confident that its 10nm manufacturing process will enable it to build central processing units cost-efficiently. However, the company does not want to reveal when exactly it plans to start making chips using its next-generation 10nm fabrication technology. In accordance with Moore’s law and Intel's tick-tock cadence, the company needs to …
Read More »Intel: 10nm and 7nm technologies have perfect economic feasibility
It is not a secret that transitions to newer chip manufacturing processes are getting more difficult from financial capital standpoint since not only research and development costs more than before, but also production equipment is getting more expensive. In a bid to keep their prices at current levels, semiconductor companies need …
Read More »Intel sees better 14nm yields, ‘Broadwell’ ramp ahead of the plan [UPDATED]
UPDATE: Adding Intel's 14nm vs 22nm cost curve comparison as well as a comment regarding current “Broadwell” costs. Intel Corp.’s 14nm manufacturing process was not a big success for the company because of initial yield issues. However, by now the majority of problems seem to be gone, at least, the …
Read More »Intel: We are excited about ‘Skylake’ processors and Windows 10
Slow demand for personal computers in the first half of the year substantially affected Intel Corp.’s business results, but the company remains moderately optimistic and believes that launches of its future microprocessors code-named “Skylake” as well as Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 10 operating system will help its PC business. Intel’s client …
Read More »TSMC: 16nm yields are approaching mature levels
Although Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has delayed mass production of chips using its 16nm fabrication processes, this did not happen only because of low yields. According to the company, 16nm yields at TSMC are approaching mature levels. This year TSMC will offer two 16nm process technologies for clients: 16nm FinFET …
Read More »Intel is quietly delaying 10nm production – report
Intel Corp. delayed mass production of 14nm chips by nearly a year because of insufficient yields. According to a media report, something similar may happen to its 10nm manufacturing technology. Intel is setting up a small pilot line for 10nm production in D1X development fab in Hillsboro, Oregon, reports SemiconductorEngineering. …
Read More »Concept of AMD APU for HPC leaks: 16 x86 cores, next-gen GPU, HBM memory
Advanced Micro Devices has been mulling accelerated processing unit for high-performance computing applications for many years, but software and hardware limitations have prevented the company from creating such chip. Recently AMD finally unveiled plans to release an APU for HPC market in 2017 and this week the first concept of …
Read More »Samsung’s own CPU core took years to develop – report
Samsung Electronics has developed and built its Exynos application processors for years, but its chips are always powered by off-the-shelf general-purpose and graphics processing cores from ARM, which limits their advantages over competing system-on-chips. Everything is going to change next year, when Samsung finally rolls-out its new SoCs featuring its …
Read More »TSMC’s 10nm goals: higher density and performance at lower power
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. this week unveiled first details about its 10nm fabrication process at the TSMC Technology Symposium in the U.S. The official goals are slightly less ambitious than those discussed last year, but the general focus of TSMC’s 10nm manufacturing technology is clear: considerable increase of transistor density compared to …
Read More »Intel and Altera acquisition talks end due to price disagreement
Negotiations between Intel Corp. and Altera have ended because the companies could not agree on price. The world’s largest maker of microprocessors did not want to pay a hefty premium for the company, which is more profitable than Intel itself. If the chipmaker really wants to get Altera, the talks will …
Read More »Intel: Moore’s law will last for another 10 years
Intel Corp. predicts that Moore’s law will last for at least another decade and the number of transistors per chip will keep doubling every two years. While there are challenges ahead, Intel’s engineers are going to solve them. Later this month Moore’s law will hit 50 years, an unprecedented date for the …
Read More »GlobalFoundries: Our lead 14nm product is yielding in double digits
GlobalFoundries on Tuesday clarified claims about its ramp up of 14nm chip production at fab 8 manufacturing facility in Malta, New York. The world's second largest contract maker of semiconductors has taped out multiple 14nm designs and is tweaking its equipment using a lead product at the moment. The company is …
Read More »TSMC looking at new materials, transistor structures for sub-10nm tech
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. this week confirmed that it has a team of engineers working on a manufacturing process that will succeed 10nm fabrication technology towards the end of the decade. While the company did not reveal details about its sub-10nm process, it said that it considers various options for …
Read More »GlobalFoundries and Samsung to produce Apple’s next A9 SoC together – report
Based on the recent market rumours, Samsung Foundry and GlobalFoundries have landed orders to produce Apple’s A9 system-on-chip that will power the company’s next-generation iPhone and iPad devices. It is unknown whether Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. will also produce the A9 SoC at any point. At present Apple’s A8 application …
Read More »Nvidia Tegra X1 to power desktops, notebooks, tablets, portable consoles
Unveiled early this year, Tegra X1 system-on-chip from Nvidia Corp. was positioned mainly for automotive applications. However, given rather serious processing horsepower it has, it can be used for many other devices. In fact, according to recent leaks and listings, Nvidia and its partners plan to use the Tegra X1 …
Read More »AMD faces massive securities fraud lawsuit because of ‘Llano’ problems in 2011
While Advanced Micro Devices has plenty of troubles today, it looks like the company could be hit by problems from the past, which are associated with the launch of its code-named “Llano” accelerated processing unit. AMD may have to pay damages to parties, which bought the company’s shares between April, 2011, …
Read More »TSMC loses orders to UMC, Chinese manufacturers
For many years Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has been gaining market share by grabbing orders from smaller rivals. However, in the recent quarters companies like United Microelectronics Corp. managed to increase their yields and started to snatch orders from TSMC. While the latter will retain its positions, the situation seems …
Read More »Intel to unveil 14nm Celeron and Pentium chips with 4W – 6W TDP
Intel Corp. this week plans to announce a new family of inexpensive Celeron and Pentium central processing units made using 14nm fabrication process. Previously known as code-named “Braswell” microprocessors, the new chips significantly increase performance in multimedia applications compared to previous-generation “Bay Trail” system-on-chips. The new SoCs will be used …
Read More »AMD unveils CPU and GPU roadmaps for the next five years
Advanced Micro Devices has demonstrated its roadmaps for the next five years. While the company did not disclose almost any details about its future products, it is important that AMD actually has plans that can be executed. AMD’s Junji Hayashi demonstrated a number of slides revealing the company’s roadmaps at …
Read More »Intel gets ready for its largest acquisition ever – report
Intel Corp. is negotiating with Altera Corp., a developer of system-on-chips, field programmable gate arrays and other specialty devices, over a possible takeover. The acquisition could strengthen Intel’s positions across many markets. The transaction could top $10 billion, which will be Intel’s biggest purchase ever. Altera develops and sells field …
Read More »Samsung rumoured to consider buying Advanced Micro Devices
Advanced Micro Devices faces hard times these days as sales of its central processing units and graphics processing units have been hitting new lows for many quarters. As a result, rumours about possible acquisitions of AMD resurrect. Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of semiconductors, is considering to acquire Advanced …
Read More »The father of Centrino, Pentium M and Core 2 leaves Intel after 33 years
Shmuel “Mooly” Eden, senior vice president and president of Intel Israel, will leave the company to “seek new challenges.” The legendary veteran, who has been with Intel for 33 years, has held various technical and management positions at Intel throughout his tenure with the giant chipmaker. “I have had the …
Read More »AMD still has not started to use 20nm process tech
Late last year Advanced Micro Devices said that it would use 20nm fabrication technology offered by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., but only for for select products. According to AMD’s recent filing with the Security and Exchange Commission, the company has not yet started to use the 20nm manufacturing process. AMD …
Read More »Intel could limit “Broadwell” LGA1150 CPU family to two chips
Intel Corp.’s code-named “Broadwell” microprocessors are not going to have a long lifespan on any markets since their successors – code-named “Skylake” chips – are ready to hit the market. Moreover, if a new media report is correct, the world’s largest chipmaker plans to limit availability of “Broadwell” CPUs on the …
Read More »TSMC: IoT devices and 10nm process tech will transform industry
A high-ranking executive of TSMC said this week that in the coming years various ultra-mobile, small electronics and smart accessories will become so pervasive that such devices will not only become a major driver for the semiconductor industry, but will turn out to be a huge part of this industry. …
Read More »Nvidia starts to use Samsung as a chip manufacturing partner – company
Nvidia Corp. and Samsung Electronics have quietly signed an agreement under which the latter will produce computer chips for the former. At present, it is unknown whether Samsung will manufacture graphics processors or application processors for the chip designer, but it is obvious that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is no …
Read More »AMD cuts ‘Bulldozer’ instructions from ‘Zen’ processors
Advanced Micro Devices has been talking about development of its next-generation high-performance “Zen” architecture for months now, but so far it has not revealed any details about the chips officially. Nonetheless, thanks to a recent patch for Linux we have learnt one significant detail about “Zen”: it will not support many …
Read More »AMD begins to enable ‘Zen’ processors support in Linux
Advanced Micro Devices has begun to add support of its upcoming microprocessors powered by “Zen” micro-architecture to Linux operating systems. The enablement of future chips in Linux confirms AMD’s plans to release such central processing units and even reveals some facts about their functionality. Unfortunately, addition of support does not …
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