The new chief of manufacturing at Advanced Micro Devices said the company has already made first test chips using 45nm process technology, however, he said the new fabrication process still does not employ high-k dielectrics and similar innovations that IBM and AMD developed collaboratively. The new technologies, however, may still be a focus for AMD, the new production chief joined AMD from IBM.
Douglas Grose, who has been appointed to the role of senior vice president of technology development, manufacturing and supply chain at AMD, said that AMD"s Dresden, Germany manufacturing facility has been producing test chips using 45nm for some time now and the company has a very strong focus on rapid development of the new fabrication technology.Mr. Grose indicated that the 65nm process technology – which went commercial in early December, 2006 – is already fully developed and ready to ramp up. The main target for AMD today is 45nm fabrication process.