AMD to build 3rth factury in Dresden Germany

[YKhan]

ZRAM, now I decided to look that up in google, and found this:
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2006Jan/gee20060124034376.htm

Anyways, we see so much new tech, how long would it take to test
that, so one would be sure it would work... maybe not so long indeed,
no new materials involved, it is an old effect.
Yes and a larger cache may give AMD even more speed advantage...
Wait and see I suppose...

Well, I posted about AMD's plans for Z-RAM in this newsgroup a couple
of months ago. Search through Google Groups for it. AMD has probably
already been testing the technology for several months now.

In other news, since the recent announcement was about an upgrade to an
existing plant, there is still room in AMD's Dresden facilities to
build a third fab. The speculation is that that new fab will be Fab 40
in 2010.

Google Groups: alt.invest.stocks.amd
http://groups.google.com/group/alt....hread/9369f1daf618f231/?#doc_123697cc24a68101

 

[George Macdonald]

ZRAM, now I decided to look that up in google, and found this:
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2006Jan/gee20060124034376.htm

Anyways, we see so much new tech, how long would it take to test
that, so one would be sure it would work... maybe not so long indeed,
no new materials involved, it is an old effect.

It's been shown to work:
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=174910622
http://www.eet.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=59302249
http://www.reed-electronics.com/electronicnews/article/CA6260580

128Mb at 90nm even in a prototype chip would seem to be good evidence of
viability but the 3-years mentioned by Toshiba to go "live" possibly also
indicates some kinda problems.. maybe with process "integration"? I guess
we'll see what AMD/IBM makes of it

IIRC the VC activity for ISI is linked up with the Soitec "arrangements"
which could also indicate taking a pinch of salt with the good news. Note
also the founder of Soitec died recently - hope he didn't take anything
with him!

Yes and a larger cache may give AMD even more speed advantage...
Wait and see I suppose...

AMD's talk has been of an L3 cache - ain't gonna cut the mustard against
the 4MB of L2 shared cache on Intel's Core2 chips IMO. In fact AMD's dual
core design with the X-Bar does not seem to lend itself to a shared cache
implementation.:-(

 

[Tony Hill]

so 500 x 1/2 million = 250 million processors / year.
Now that is a respectable number.

You should probably factor in a yield of about 75% (rough guess of
AMD's average yield) and you'll get a fairly close guess as to just
how many chips they can build. That's enough to satisfy quite a good
chunk of the x86 market (currently sitting at somewhere around
225-250M processor, growing at about 10%/year).

Well, Linux does scare them a bit, that is why they are now selling cheap
MS windows versions in in some parts of the world.

To be honest, I think illegally copied versions of Windows are scaring
them a LOT more than Linux. Most of the areas where MS has released
low-cost versions of Windows are also areas where illegally copied
software is rampant.

 

[Tony Hill]

I can't see AMD going under 150 mm^2 even at 65nm, considering that
quad-core is on its way. However, if they adopt a ZRAM L3 cache, they
might be able to pull it off.

Quad core probably won't see too much use in desktop chips through to
the end of the decade at least. It'll be big for servers and some
workstations, plus it might be available for desktops, but I suspect
that for the next 5 years or more dual-core chips will be more the
norm. Actually we'll probably continue to see a lot of single-core
chips (ie most/all "Sempron" chips) making up a pretty good chunk of
sales. Those chips are already down in the 100mm^2 range, and will be
well under that mark when they transition to 65nm production. Even
current dual-core chips only weigh in at ~150mm^2 from a 90nm fab, so
they should be down around 100mm^2.

 

[Jan Panteltje]

To be honest, I think illegally copied versions of Windows are scaring
them a LOT more than Linux. Most of the areas where MS has released
low-cost versions of Windows are also areas where illegally copied
software is rampant.

I did read on CNN.com (article may still be there) that Billy has suggested
to that Chinese president that was in the US, tha tlegal copies would bring
in more taxes (5.6 billion / year?) so that would benefit the gov.....
So now those commies got wise and are cracking down big time on the illega;l
copies. ;-)

Redhat & Co will have to up the price a bit to keep the China market.
Some time ago I tried to download the Chinese 'Redflag' Linux, could not
get a download started....