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Monica Chen, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 18 May 2010]
Supply for AMD chipsets is running tight as the company has agreed to allow foundry partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to allocate part of the 55nm capacity reserved for chipsets to GPU production in order to ease current GPU shortages, according to sources at motherboard makers. In the second half of 2009, AMD's 40nm ATI Radeon HD 5000 series faced a serious shortage due to low yields on TSMC's 40nm process, as a result, graphics card makers turned to placing orders for 55nm ATI Radeon HD 4000 series GPUs. However, since AMD took a conservative attitude toward future 55nm GPU sales after the launch of 40nm GPUs, both the company's 40nm and 55nm GPUs ended up suffering from shortages, according to previous reports. In the first quarter of 2010, since TSMC's 40nm yields were still unable to rise significantly, AMD decided to shift part of its 55nm capacity allocation for chipsets to produce of 55nm GPUs, which provide a gross margin of about 40-50%, to raise its profits, the sources noted. Although TSMC's recent 40nm yields have started to see significant improvements which has helped to ease the tight supply of 55nm GPUs, the company's chipset supply has started turning tight as demand is picking up, the sources pointed out. The sources expect AMD's chipset shortage to persist throughout the third quarter and is unlikely to be solved before the end of September.
Categories: Bits + chips IC manufacturing Mobo, chipset Mobos Tags: AMD capacity chipset foundry GPU manufacturing motherboard TSMC Companies: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
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