AMD: Xbox One deal worth over $3 Billion

[Abwx]

Here's the original source (where nobody says anything about AMD getting $100 a chip).

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtrader...x-prospects-even-on-muted-uptake/?mod=BOLBlog

Nowhere in your link it is said that MS and Sony paid
245 and 218$ respectively for the CPU+GPU of their
previous offerings , so his 60$ estimation is pure BS
since it would be less that what AMD charge for
the cheaper 4C Kabini.

 

[Phynaz]

Wow, so the original source has it wrong, and the guy pulling things out of thin air is right.

Gotcha.

 

[Abwx]

Xbit labs gave hard numbers of previous gen parts costs
while the guy in your link is the one pulling numbers out
of the vacuum , besides , he just seems to be totaly
clueless about chip costs.

 

[Ajay]

Wow, so the original source has it wrong, and the guy pulling things out of thin air is right.

Gotcha.

and assuming $60 ASP per processor

Indeed he is.

 

[jpiniero]

Nowhere in your link it is said that MS and Sony paid
245 and 218$ respectively for the CPU+GPU of their
previous offerings , so his 60$ estimation is pure BS
since it would be less that what AMD charge for
the cheaper 4C Kabini.

There's a reason AMD won the contract. $60 sounds about right, with most of that going to GloFo.

 

[Third_Eye]

There's a reason AMD won the contract. $60 sounds about right, with most of that going to GloFo.

Can you give me indications that it is GloFo and not TSMC? The general behavior is that AMD goes out of its way to mention GloFo at the drop of the hat (due to 20% stake Mubadala has in AMD). But with TSMC they are more reticent as if to invoke them as an afterthought.

When AMD sold its stake in GloFo to ATIC for a negative > 400 million dollars to escape of the exclusivity, they did not mention TSMC by name but only other foundry. The first hint of TSMC came only in the 2013 at MWC timeframe with respect to Kabini and Temash eventhough most of us knew in early 2012 who is the foundry.

The APUs that use Jaguar CPU architecture and GPU architecture (whose discrete variants) which came from TSMC. Suddenly semi-custom APUs that use both CPU + GPU would be from GloFo?? Does not quite make sense....

If Anand/somebody receives a unit it will be easy.

If on the chip packaging it says "Diffused in Taiwan" then it is TSMC. IF it says "Diffused in Germany" it would be the GloFo in Dresden. "Diffused in USA" means GloFo fab in Malta, NY

 

[StinkyPinky]

Look at the sales of the original Wii. Lots of console gamers are just casual gamers, which mobile gaming has eaten in to.

I actually think the XBO will sell better. Most people don't care if it has slightly inferior graphics since most people aren't graphics whores. Look at angry birds and ugly ass Wii games. The XBO will sell better because it's an HTPC that can also play games. I think people will like that.

I think MS have played the smarter game. They know gaming sales are in limbo at the moment so have made sure they can make a lot of money from non-gaming multimedia.

Either way, at least sony and microsoft aren't retarded like nintendo who have zero idea. Yeah, let's release a console competing against the ps3/xb360 right at the end of their product cycles. Real smart.

 

[Abwx]

There's a reason AMD won the contract. $60 sounds about right, with most of that going to GloFo.

No need to go as low , 100$ would be already a bonanza
for both MS and Sony.

I m surprised that people gullibly think that a 350-450mm2
chip can be sold for 60$ , it just show how people can
sustain the unsustainable , provided it fits their prejudices.

 

[jpiniero]

Can you give me indications that it is GloFo and not TSMC

There hasn't been any reports per se; it just makes sense because of the WSA to have it fabbed there.

I m surprised that people gullibly think that a 350-450mm2
chip can be sold for 60$ , it just show how people can
sustain the unsustainable , provided it fits their prejudices.

Why not? Do you not think $60 is enough to satisfy GloFo? I'm assuming the money for AMD is going to be a couple bucks at best.

 

[Lepton87]

I don't even think that Xbox One APU will be cheaper then that in PS4, probably just the opposite. Everything points to MS wanting to achieve as low power consumption as it could.

There hasn't been any reports per se; it just makes sense because of the WSA to have it fabbed there.

there's a few reason that won't be the case.

1. This is AMD, they like bleeding money.
2. GCN cards and APUs are already fabricated at TSMC, maybe they couldn't port them in time or maybe GF's bulk process is inferior to TSMC's that MS didn't want that APU because it would have different characteristics. The fact that Jaguar is fabricated at TSMC even though it was supposed to be designed to be relatively easy to switch fabs is a big indication that the APUs in XboxOne and PS4 are fabricated at TSMC.

 

[Ajay]

There hasn't been any reports per se; it just makes sense because of the WSA to have it fabbed there.

Why not? Do you not think $60 is enough to satisfy GloFo? I'm assuming the money for AMD is going to be a couple bucks at best.

Earlier production parts are almost certainly being fabbed @ TSMC. If AMD accepted a lower ASP I would think that it would be so that the console APU would fulfill the WSA. I would also think that a lower ASP would be fixed - the dice are cheaper to produce for AMD in the future and MS/Sony get lower power costs. But, ATM, we have no idea what the ASPs are.

 

[erunion]

There is no way they gonna ship 400M units. They might never even hit 150M over a 8 year timeline.

In 2012, less than 30 million consoles was shipped. And that includes Nintendo, the absolute best seller.

Consoles is currently in a limbo state. And they are on the path to slowly vanish, hence why specially MS tries so hard to make their console to not be a console.

Not to mention this trend:

MS believes they will sell more Xbox one than 360s.

But what matters more to my previous point was the number AMD was using for that 3 billion figure.

Even if its the tiny amount of 50 million consoles that works out to "only" $60 per unit.

edit: I don't have numbers handy but isn't the downward trend in console sales due to weakness in the Wii? I don't believe either the ps3 or 360 has declined much.

 

[erunion]

Earlier production parts are almost certainly being fabbed @ TSMC.

You brought up a very interesting point. Its possible the consoles will launch on TSMC and move to GF later as planned cost cutting.

Or it could even be that one will launch first on TSMC with the other console coming later on GF. Sony has talked about letting MS be first to market.

 

[Vesku]

Xbox 360 = 57.8 million after 7 years

So 50 million in 5 years is an aggressive yet plausible target for Microsoft. If they managed to get at least one of the two console chips made by GF it would be very good news for AMD.

 

[Centauri]

I buy it. It looks like Microsoft is going to price the One very aggressively in addition to pitching it as a home theater experience unto itself. Many buyers may not even be traditional gamers.

The story may be the same for the PS4.

Consoles needed to evolve into more capable devices and it looks like MS and Sony didn't blunder by waiting another generation to do it.

 

[erunion]

Xbox 360 = 57.8 million after 7 years

So 50 million in 5 years is an aggressive yet plausible target for Microsoft. If they managed to get at least one of the two console chips made by GF it would be very good news for AMD.

that number is not up to date. weren't they at 50 around 2010?

anyway, current total is 75 million.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_wars

 

[Vesku]

that number is not up to date. weren't they at 50 around 2010?

anyway, current total is 75 million.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_wars

I got my number from here: http://www.statisticbrain.com/xbox-statistics/

If there number was indeed verified as they claim perhaps it's NA sales. Where as worldwide -

This says 66 million at the end of 2011 beginning of 2012: http://techland.time.com/2012/01/13/hail-to-the-king-xbox-360-2011s-top-games-console-by-a-mile/

That's 7 holiday seasons vs 5? years on the Xbox One deal.

 

[NTMBK]

There were rumours a while back that IBM were helping out with the eDRAM design for the XBone- given that IBM and GloFo are common platform foundries, that might be an indication for the XBone APU being made at GloFo.

 

[wlee15]

The Xbox One doesn't use EDRAM. It uses a giant pool of 6T SRAM.

 

[NTMBK]

The Xbox One doesn't use EDRAM. It uses a giant pool of 6T SRAM.

EDRAM, SRAM, whatever The stupendously big cache.

 

[itsmydamnation]

EDRAM, SRAM, whatever The stupendously big cache.

its not a cache

 

[Abwx]

Xbox 360 = 57.8 million after 7 years

that number is not up to date. weren't they at 50 around 2010?
anyway, current total is 75 million.

Where as worldwide -

This says 66 million at the end of 2011 beginning of 2012:

That's 7 holiday seasons vs 5? years on the Xbox One deal.

All thoses numbers were made without the benefit of the chines market.

What will be its impact , considering the novelty for this area..?.

I guess that it will more than compensate for an eventual
decline in the rest of the world , hence MS and Sony have
some good reasons to be reasonably optimistics.

 

[NTMBK]

its not a cache

I thought it hadn't been confirmed how it was used? Whether it was a cache, or a separately managed memory pool?

Anyway, FINE, the big fat pool of memory integrated onto the die.

 

[Medikit]

This seems like it may be life blood for AMD. I'm not convinced that console gaming is dead so this should be a huge boon for the company.

 

[wlee15]

Well Jaguar and GCN were already in development so AMD already gotten benefits from Sony and Microsoft paying for parts in the development of these two key product lines.