Mass production of ATI's next-gen cards has started

ATI has announced TSMC is in volume production of multiple 90nm products for ATI, including the Radeon X1800, Radeon X1600 and Radeon X1300 series, and has shipped large quantities of production wafers to ATI.

"The ATI products produced with TSMC's 90nm process show a tremendous clock speed improvement and power reduction versus earlier generation technologies," said Jason Chen, Vice President of Corporate Development for TSMC. "As a result, TSMC is currently processing thousands of 300mm wafers for ATI, with many more already delivered. At this aggressive pace, ATI has already become one of our major 90nm customers."

"TSMC has done an excellent job of delivering on yields and speeds," said Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President of ATI's PC Business Unit. "As ever, they've proven themselves an excellent manufacturing partner as we ramp up some of the most advanced technology consumers have ever seen."

TSMC's state-of-the-art 90nm technology frees ATI from the limitations of less-advanced processes and enables a whole new level of performance and functionality for PC graphics. For example, the new ATI products have clock speeds around 50 per cent higher than products manufactured on older processes.

ATI expects the latest cards to begin arriving on store shelves by the end of September.