AMD to outsource a part of K8-processor production

Posted on Tuesday, November 09 2004 @ 21:13 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
AMD and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing today announced they have entered into sourcing and manufacturing technology agreements whereby Chartered will implement under license portions of AMD’s Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM) software suite and become an additional manufacturing source of AMD64 microprocessors.

With the success of the AMD64 architecture and AMD’s plans for future growth, AMD is lining up additional incremental capacity to augment its production at its state-of-the-art site in Dresden, Germany. AMD will use this capacity to meet the expanding end-customer demands for AMD Athlon™ 64 and AMD Opteron™ processor-based systems. AMD plans to have Chartered begin production in 2006.

“This is another milestone in driving the market to pervasive 64-bit computing,” said Dirk Meyer, executive vice president, Computation Products Group, AMD. “AMD has industry-leading price/performance capabilities, outstanding stability and investment protection in our CPUs, the best technology, and now with this relationship, the incremental capacity to fulfill our planned volume demands. We believe that all of our customers around the globe will benefit from this relationship.”

“Chartered’s already strong capabilities, enhanced with the speed, accuracy and agility of APM, will help Chartered attain a rapid AMD64 product production ramp with high yields and high quality,” said Gary Heerssen, senior vice president, Corporate Manufacturing Group, AMD. “Our plans for AMD Fab 36, which is currently under construction, remain unchanged. We intend it to be our benchmark facility for the manufacture of AMD64 products.”

“We are pleased to become a qualified manufacturer of AMD’s industry-leading 64-bit microprocessor designs. This reflects growing confidence in Chartered’s leading-edge capabilities and our unique foundry position,” said Kay Chai “KC” Ang, senior vice president of fab operations at Chartered. “To build the world’s most advanced chips, you need the world’s most advanced manufacturing capabilities. The implementation of AMD’s Automated Precision Manufacturing will be a fundamental enabler of our success with AMD64 products while providing access to AMD manufacturing innovation to the advantage of all our 300mm customers.”

Chartered will begin integrating APM into Fab 7, its 300mm wafer fabrication facility in Singapore, starting in the fourth quarter of 2004


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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