AMD denies building chips at IMB factories

Advanced Micro Devices denied on Tuesday that IBM had started to make chips on contract basis for the company. AMD said that IBM only provided consulting services to Globalfoundries, contract maker of AMD’s microprocessors, so that to enable it to boost yields of chips produced using 32nm silicon-on-insulator process technology.

“IBM has given some consulting support to GF, as far as I know they are not producing chips for us,” a spokesperson for AMD told X-bit labs.

Since IBM, Globalfoundries, Samsung Electronics and STMicroelectronics are jointly develop various semiconductor process technologies, they usually unify manufacturing processes and can help each other to build chips if needed. For example, Globalfoundries’ fab 8 in Saratoga, New York, and IBM’s facility in East Fishkill, New York, at present can produce the same chips. Nonetheless, this is not a case when it comes to IBM and AMD’s central processing units and accelerated processing units as they are exclusively made at Globalfoundries.

During an event for financial analysts last week, AMD’s chief executive Rory Read named IBM as one of AMD’s manufacturing partners that helps to solve issues with supply of the company’s latest chips, which implied that AMD had quietly added a manufacturing partner.

“We win together and we have a partnership […] in difficult times and in good times. What we are seeing is the focus on execution, running the test chips through the line, the gathering of data, […] working with partners from IBM and GlobalFoundries. We’re seeing real focus day in and day out on execution improvement. Because of the work we’re doing at the partnership level, we’re getting the right kind of uptick from their side of the organization as well,” said Mr. Read.

Back in 2011 Advanced Micro Devices ran into supply problems with its latest chips, including those made using 32nm SOI process technology – Bulldozer, Llano, etc. The firm had to change its supply agreement with Globalfoundries and worked hard to boost production yields of its APUs and CPUs. The major issues are believed to be solved by now.

This could also have something to do with the news that production at Global Foundries has now started on the first batch of the Next-Gen Xbox’s APU, which are apparently being made to ship as dev-kits.  The APU is said to be designed by AMD & IBM.

Source: Xbitlabs