ChipFabrication
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TSMC 2012 Q1 results: profits down again as 20-nanometer process proves expensive
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has offered up its first quarter results for the year, revealing yet another middling quarter. While turnover was NT$105.51 billion ($3.6 billion) and net profit was NT$33.47 billion ($1.1 billion), that's still 7.7 percent down on the NT$36.28 it made in the same quarter last year. On the upside, the chip foundry, which produces silicon for plenty of the world's biggest electronics companies, managed to claw back some of those profit dips from Q4 of last year, suggesting milder climes may lie ahead. The company is also encouraged by strong demand for its new 28-nanometer chips, which should offset the $8.5 billion spent on developing them, alongside a forthcoming 20-nanometer facility. 28-nanometer hardware still only equates to 5 percent of overall revenue, which should grow as companies use up their older inventory. If you've got a currency convertor to hand, head on past the break for the detailed breakdown.
HP eyes 2015 release for 3D integrated photonic chips
It's unavoidable -- mention HP and images of the TouchPad come floating to the surface. What most geek folk don't realize, however, is that the company recently famous for open sourcing webOS has been hard at work behind-the-scenes prepping for the next stage in computing: integrated photonics. The project, codenamed Corona, aims to create stackable 3D chips that communicate using inbuilt, microscopic lasers made from gallium. This new breed of CPUs is on track to combine "256 general purpose cores organized in 64 four-core clusters" created using a 16nm process for a performance boost of up to six times faster than traditional circuitry. Why do this? Well, the nature of optical communication would not only speed up the rate at which the various cores could relay data (a theoretical 20 terabytes per second), but would also drastically lower power requirements from a current 160 watts to 6.4 watts. Sounds like the future, indeed, but as with all things forward-facing, many of the necessary components are still being developed, so take that 2015 target date with a heady amount of sodium chloride.
Globalfoundries buys out AMD stake to become fully independent chip maker
Globalfoundries has celebrated its third anniversary by announcing that it's agreed terms with AMD to buy out its remaining stake in the company to go it alone. Whilst Sunnyvale will remain a key customer to the chip foundry, the nuts and bolts of ownership will be wholly in the hands of ATIC. The company now provides a big chunk of AMD's 32nm wafers and is now kicking off a $3 billion spending plan to kit out its facilities in Singapore, Germany and New York. It looks like the single life will allow it to spend equal time and effort refining those 20nm ARM chips promised for 2013 as well as its new partnership with IBM.
AMD announces GLOBALFOUNDRIES spin-off, forgets to name it something awesome
AMD's finally dumped its fabrication facilities and technology onto a new spin-off brand, as expected. ATIC (Advanced Technology Investment Company) is on board as well, and the newly-formed GLOBALFOUNDRIES has $6 billion in investments to start out with, along with 2,800 employees. GLOBALFOUNDRIES will be primarily be building chips for AMD, just like usual, but will also be open to other gigs as a 3rd party chip builder -- its main rival TSMC just scored a deal with Intel to produce Atom chips on the cheap, a first for Intel who usually keeps production and processes in-house. First up for the new company? Churning out a 32nm process. We like the sound of that.
