AMD to start 45nm ramp in H1 2008

[oldblue]

Fabtechs take.

I think I posted AMD's reply to Fabtech's original article in the thread that got deleted:

Advanced Micro Devices is not delaying 45-nanometer manufacturing, according to the company, which is trying to correct an erroneous report on a blog.

"We are still on track to produce the first (45-nanometer) products by mid-2008," said Gary Silcott, an AMD spokesman. The company will have "pretty good volumes" of 45-nanometer chips by the end of 2008, he added.

The also claim that the problems with Barcelona have been with finalizing the chip design, not with their manufacturing process:

Analyst

Dirk, I had a question for you. On the Barcelona ramp you said it materialized a little slower than anticipated and your speed grades haven't been targeting the top end right off the bat. There has been some speculation that perhaps your yields on 65 nanometer specifically as it relates to Barcelona is the issue here.

Any comments you would want to make or a different explanation you would want to offer up on why Barcelona's speed grades aren't as fast as you would like them to be?

Dirk Meyer

First of all, I'll say that the basic silicon yields of Barcelona are right where we expected them to be. They're right line on line with the previous 65 nanometer products from a deep activity and overall yield perspective.

The issue has been simply one of tuning the design to the technology so as to support a high volume ramp. It is that particular issue that caused us to take a few extra weeks before we turn on the high volume ramp in the middle of this quarter.

Analyst

In other words, there's nothing endemic to your process technology that is problematic or which might spill over to your 45 nanometer ramp?

Dirk Meyer

No. The minor issues we've been experiencing have nothing to do with the process technology or the manufacturing capabilities. It is all a matter of wedding the design to the technology so as to be able to ship in volume.

Analyst

Anything else you could share along those lines in terms of details as what the issues have been in wedding your designs with your process technology?

Dirk Meyer

I don't think in this forum.

[Salvador]

I think I posted AMD's reply to Fabtech's original article in the thread that got deleted:

Advanced Micro Devices is not delaying 45-nanometer manufacturing, according to the company, which is trying to correct an erroneous report on a blog.

"We are still on track to produce the first (45-nanometer) products by mid-2008," said Gary Silcott, an AMD spokesman. The company will have "pretty good volumes" of 45-nanometer chips by the end of 2008, he added.

The also claim that the problems with Barcelona have been with finalizing the chip design, not with their manufacturing process:

Analyst

Dirk, I had a question for you. On the Barcelona ramp you said it materialized a little slower than anticipated and your speed grades haven't been targeting the top end right off the bat. There has been some speculation that perhaps your yields on 65 nanometer specifically as it relates to Barcelona is the issue here.

Any comments you would want to make or a different explanation you would want to offer up on why Barcelona's speed grades aren't as fast as you would like them to be?

Dirk Meyer

First of all, I'll say that the basic silicon yields of Barcelona are right where we expected them to be. They're right line on line with the previous 65 nanometer products from a deep activity and overall yield perspective.

The issue has been simply one of tuning the design to the technology so as to support a high volume ramp. It is that particular issue that caused us to take a few extra weeks before we turn on the high volume ramp in the middle of this quarter.

Analyst

In other words, there's nothing endemic to your process technology that is problematic or which might spill over to your 45 nanometer ramp?

Dirk Meyer

No. The minor issues we've been experiencing have nothing to do with the process technology or the manufacturing capabilities. It is all a matter of wedding the design to the technology so as to be able to ship in volume.

Analyst

Anything else you could share along those lines in terms of details as what the issues have been in wedding your designs with your process technology?

Dirk Meyer

I don't think in this forum.

How can your article dated 18th of October, be AMDs answer to the fabtech article i posted dated 22nd of October?

[GoThr3k]

What about the claim "Barcelona will outperform Clovertown by 40% in various workloads". Which are the workloads and where is the 40% faster Barcelona? (2.0GHz Barcelona vs 3.0GHz Clovertown)

please,don't act like a child,amd said clock per clock,and in some workloads.....
if your only intention is to flame and to cause a amd vs intel war,please go spam another thread

its about 45nm here....

[BeardyMan]

So does this mean that AMD are not producing 45nm chips right now, like some people here were speculating?
I also wonder if mid-2008 = September.

Right, the B1/BA/B2 stepping were already discussed hundreds of times here. Just nobody posted a performance difference between B1 to BA. Dave, where are you?

What about the claim "Barcelona will outperform Clovertown by 40% in various workloads". Which are the workloads and where is the 40% faster Barcelona? (2.0GHz Barcelona vs 3.0GHz Clovertown)

The minor issues = delays and more delays, but does this mean no volume K10 before 45nm? If yes, that is very bad for AMD because they are not making money with K8.

Show us that official claim from AMD?