US chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is scheduled to deliver chip samples using a 90nm manufacturing process on 8-inch wafers in the second quarter of next year, Christopher Bode, manager for AMD's AMP (automated precision manufacturing) development, said in Taipei yesterday. The chip samples will be cranked out from AMD's Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany. The fab, which uses a 0.13-micron process, will migrate to 90nm in the second half of 2004, Bode said.
AMD hoped to ramp up 90nm chip production in the second quarter of next year, but has delayed that schedule by two to three months, the company said in November. Although AMD's processor production capacity still falls short of demand, the company does not have plans to outsource processors to any wafer foundry in the immediate future. Instead, AMD is building a new 12-inch wafer fab, called Fab 36, adjacent to Fab 30. The new fab is projected to start cranking out 13,000 wafers per month on a 65nm process in 2006, Bode said.
Fab 36 will require a capital outlay of US$2.4 billion, with AMD contributing US$900 million and other investors in Europe, bank loans and subsidies from Germany's government making up the remainder.
News source: DigiTimes
