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Malta Tour Shows GF Rising
Ryan Shrout
2/7/2018 00:01 AM EST
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332945
Ryan Shrout
2/7/2018 00:01 AM EST
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332945
AMD is still the biggest and most influential customer for GF. AMD’s latest processor products including Ryzen and Epyc, in addition to graphics chips based on Polaris and Vega, are all built inside GF’s Fab 8 in Malta, NY.
AMD had a lot of ground to make up against Intel and Nvidia. CEO Lisa Su hasn’t been shy about crediting GlobalFoundries in part for the improvement in its product portfolio through 2017. AMD’s release schedule and product refresh cycle for the products was aggressive.
I toured Fab 8 to see some of the changes taking place. Like TSMC, GF will be starting 7nm production with current lithography techniques, claiming customers are demanding 7nm tape-outs before newer options like extreme ultraviolet litho (EUV) are ready.
TSMC taped out several 7nm chips last year and expects volume production this year. GF is a step behind with an in-house designed 7nm node taping out chips in late 2018 and mass production in 2019.
GF must prove to its customers, AMD among them, that its 7nm capabilities are competitive with TSMC. GF claims its 7nm LP process will provide for mobile processor applications as much as a 30 percent die cost reduction and a 40 percent better performance over its 14nm node.
AMD said (and GF confirmed) it will be splitting its 7nm production across both GF and TSMC. Which chips will be coming from TSMC versus GF is still unclear.
My understanding is AMD plans development of 7nm GPUs and CPUs at both foundries, selecting the best one for each option as late as possible. Given AMD has promised to ship 7nm Zen 2 CPUs and 7nm Vega and Navi GPUs by 2020, the window is closing on that selection process.
7nm LP will be used for mobile processor applications... What about the other applications like desktops?GF claims its 7nm LP process will provide for mobile processor applications as much as a 30 percent die cost reduction and a 40 percent better performance over its 14nm node.
Maybe, TSMC will be producing 7nm CPUs for AMD.My understanding is AMD plans development of 7nm GPUs and CPUs at both foundries, selecting the best one for each option as late as possible.