A BOUYANT AMD wants to build a new 65-nanometer fab, possibly in either New York or Singapore, sources suggest. Other suggestions for the site of the fab site include Austin Texas and Dresden, Germany, where the chipmaker already has facilities churning out chips and the company certainly enjoys some financial kick-backs in Dresden, where the local government is keen to boost the local economy and jobs market.
AMD boss Hector Ruiz told analysts last week that the company had already chosen a preferred site for the new fab and hopes to "break ground" on the facility before the end of the year. He remained tight-lipped over further details of the project, however. AMD is likely to have a partner in mind with which to share the cost of setting up the fab. The usual contenders include IBM and Taiwanese manufacturer TSMC. A new fab would take two years to build.
In the meantime, AMD plans to refresh its entire product line during 2004, according to Dirk Meyer, senior veep of AMD's Computation Products group. "You're not going to see any big product launches from AMD in 2004, rather, you're going to see the fruits of the harvest we planted earlier," he said.
News source: The Inq
