AMD switches over to TSMC from GlobalFoundries

AMD has been clouded by some major chaos, according to a story by Extremetech. Reportedly, things haven’t gone as planned for AMD on their desktop and server-end processor front. We reviewed the desktop version of the Bulldozer processor, recently and we found out that neither does it perform as well as Intel Sandy Bridge processors, nor is it affordable, making it not-so-good value for money. AMD has now started focussing on their 28nm APUs. They have been cutting costs by trimming their marketing and PR departments. It now appears they are in the process of making a major manufacturing decision. If the rumours are true, then the new Krishna/Wichita chips will be manufactured by TSMC. This could mean tremors and uncertainty to some extent, as enhancements and optimizations meant for the GlobalFoundries produced chips may not make it to the upcoming processors.

Rough waters

The new 28nm APUs will make their way to the market in 2012, but a brand new chip will be some 18 months away. AMD’s share in GlobalFoundries has dropped to 9.6 percent. AMD doesn't have a representative in the board of directors over at GlobalFoundries. AMD already uses TSMC for their 28nm fabrication process, which will be used for their upcoming Radeon 7000 GPUs.