Amid a new and bold plan to build a 300-mm wafer fab, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. disclosed that it has delayed the volume deployment of its 90-nm process technology by two to three months. AMD originally hoped to ramp up its 90-nm process in the first half of 2004, with volume production due in the latter part of the second quarter of next year, said Hector Ruiz, AMD"s president and CEO. The company now plans to move into volume production in the second half of 2004, Ruiz said. Specifically, the AMD executive indicated that 90-nm chip production would take place in the third quarter of 2004, he said.
There has been a "two or three month slip" for the volume ramp of the 90-nm process, he said during a conference call with analysts. The AMD executive also outlined the company"s 300-mm plans. As reported, the company set plans to build a 300-mm, 65-nm fab in Germany. Production is set for 2006. During an analyst conference call last week, AMD demonstrated 90-nm prototypes of its Opteron line of 32/64-bit processors. At present, AMD is producing processors at the 130-nm node. "Our yields (at 130-nm) are good," he said.