Much speculation has surrounded Advanced Micro Devices, manufacturing plans for its upcoming fusion family of processors and whether these chips could be produced under contract. But a senior executive said that AMD plans to manufacture the first chips itself.
The first fusion processor will be made at AMD's chip plant in Dresden, Germany, said Rich Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's Graphics products Group, during an interview. Due in late 2009, Fusion chips will combine processor cores, a memory controller and graphics cores on a single piece of silicon. Current AMD processors have the processor cores and memory controller on the same chip. Adding a graphics core to these chips is technically challenging, in part because AMD's existing microprocessors and graphics chips are made using different technology.
AMD's graphics chips are made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. using a bulk CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) process, while the processors are made by AMD and Chartered Semiconductor using SOI (silicon-insulator) technology. The Fusion chips will be made using SOI.
The first fusion processor will be made at AMD's chip plant in Dresden, Germany, said Rich Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's Graphics products Group, during an interview. Due in late 2009, Fusion chips will combine processor cores, a memory controller and graphics cores on a single piece of silicon. Current AMD processors have the processor cores and memory controller on the same chip. Adding a graphics core to these chips is technically challenging, in part because AMD's existing microprocessors and graphics chips are made using different technology.
AMD's graphics chips are made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. using a bulk CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) process, while the processors are made by AMD and Chartered Semiconductor using SOI (silicon-insulator) technology. The Fusion chips will be made using SOI.