AMD has a new fab!

[Matisaro]

Well, it looks like AMD owns 50% of GMD(fujitsu's only north american fab). If I survive the 30% job layoff on monday, I will now work for amd.....do I need to change my signature like raystonn now?

Anyways, this info is all available publically, so if the people at amd or fujitsu see I posted this, I am not violating my nda....at least thats what I will be screaming as they drag me off site.

So heres the skinny, they own 50% now, and plan to go to 100% within 2 years, amd and fujitsu are strategic partners in FLASH storage chips, which have had a bad year. (moreso than dram)

The fab is class 1, running a .18 micron process, but they would only need a minimal retool for .13 (the thinfilms/etch areas are tooled, and half the photo steppers are exomer steppers, which are top end.) It will be an interesting next few months to see if amd changes our product mix....I am 99% sure I will survive the layoff.(I hope so, I get such a kick from using a scanning electron microscope to actually look at the stuff we talk about here!). The fab is 8 inch, but it is on the tech high end, its less than 2 years old.

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[kurokaze]

that's cool.. I would love to get a tour in one of
fabs... too bad they don't have one in Toronto..


Intel Components, AMD Components... all made in Taiwan!

 

[Matisaro]

It isnt as snazzy as everyone thinks, its a BIG long hallway(about 300 yards at GMD) and there are 21 aisles even numbered ones on the right odd on the left, and everyone wearsa gortex suits. and the photo area has yellow overhead lights...and thats about it.

and theres an annoying white noise(air circulators) which I am sure will deafen me over time!

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

heh cool.. maybe you can tell me when the palaminamo (athlon 4) will be out and how the heck do you spell the original name and pronounce it? lol ... palamono? i dunno ... heh

ya new fabs are always nice

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

 

[zengeos]

I have mixed feelings about this Mati...

1. With Flash doing so poorly, why would AMD buy another flash fab?

2. If the fab is easily convertible to processors or to chipsets, how long would it take to do the conversion of one or two lines?

3. How does this affect their plans to build an all new fab?

So this could be good news...or it could be bad news...depending on what this permits AMD to do. I think it's probably better news than bad since it will give AMD much more production flexibility. While I am impressed with Dresden, I have had concerns with AMD putting all their eggs in one basket (manuacturing all their CPUs in one facility. And, with the broadening of their lines to MP, desktop and mobile chips, it might be better to have more lines available so there will be less time spent switching between the processor production....then again, I'm not particularly *up* on chip production...it could be a matter of minutes to switch between the various chip production. BUT....still...with Hammer sampling already..or soon....AMD could be squeezed to produce Athlons and Durons.

Anyways...I'm rambling...sorry

Mark-

When all else fails, throw your computer out the window!!!

 

[Matisaro]

We dont make amd microprocessors.....yet(hope we will would be awesome) all we make is flash chips and some very rare dram.(specialty dram for certain supercomputers.)

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[Matisaro]

This fab is no dresden, it however is much better than their austin fab, it has the technology to make .18micron aluminum processors, and all the neccicary tools to do so. But will they? I dont know what they are planning, but I will throw this one out there....they may not have had a choice in the matter. I can not say more, but if you really want to know, pm me.....now dont everyone pm me, I have enough posts to read as it is.

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[kurokaze]

well, that killed the fantasy :lol:

Intel Components, AMD Components... all made in Taiwan!

 

[Matisaro]

LOL, sorry man, if it helps there is a race track suspended overhead in a huge oval along the whole of the 300 yards, and on this track run the 24 daifuku wafer transport robots(no joke) they carry wafers from oen end of the fab to the other and store them in n2 stockers. it looks like an eternal race, always in one direction.

(everytime I bet on daifuku number 2 I lose, DAMN YOU DAIFUKU 1!) next week I know 2 will win!!!!!!

((explaining above joke, the daifukus do not switch posistions....ok, maybe it wasnt that funny)

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

well what about any rumors? heh ... i still thinks it cool u make stuff ... thats all i do is sit on my ars and play video games and browse them and chat occasionaly lol u think i'm kidden but i'm not lol.. naw it's just super quiet right now.. i'm help desk IT person ...

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

 

[Matisaro]

Everyone I work with is shocked, I know more than most on my level cause I actually follow the industry, believe it or not, most people who work in wafer fabs are normal people, alot of the people in my area dont even know what flash does, let alone what it is or how it works....kind of sad actually.


as for rumors, If I were amd, I would retool that bad boy and have it to dresden level tech wise in 6 months, good to have 2 fabs which can split product load. but everything is up in the air now.

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[Tejas]

How many wafer starts per week is it good for. i don't know many fabs that can retool from 0.18 Al to 0.13 micron and copper in 6 months! Give it closer to 10. What do you do?

 

[Matisaro]

Capacity is 90,000 moves per day( I am not sure how many starts a week that is, because they always measured performance by how many moves per day we got(a move is when a wafer completes a stage and goes onto the next stage) We are at super reduced capacity because of the downturn, and we have plans to make 500 wafer starts a week soon, which they have quoted as being 4-5% capactiy. (although I can not be 100% positive on the % figure as I heard an engineer talking about it, who may have had bad information.)

I work on a defect KLA, and do frontline defect review/anaylisis for Yield Enhancement.......I hope that this information does not allow them to pin me down(if anyone who I wouldnt want to see this post sees it heh). But I basically, check wafers for defects and when they fail (have too many) I place them on a tilt sem.(jeol scanning electron microscope with tilt capability) and take images of the defects for the techs/engineers to make determinations with. I am not a tech, and apart from my special job duties.(My posistion was just created when I was asked to fill it) I am a lowly operator. :-(

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[Matisaro]

As I have said, they photo area could be retooled for .13 micron quickly, they are state of the art. as for copper, I dont know how long that would take, and the fab itself is logic class. (although why build such a nice fab for only flash and dram I will never know.)

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[Matisaro]

And remember, I said dresden level, dresden is currently .18 micron, all GMD would have to change is its thin films and etch areas for copper..(hopefully) which may take less than 6 months, however, barring cu process, the fab is already at dresden levels in all major respects.

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[FatBurger]

thats all i do is sit on my ars and play video games and browse them and chat occasionaly lol u think i'm kidden but i'm not lol..

No, we thought that's what you did...


Hey Matisaro, want to give me a tour on my lunch break? It'd take me like 5 minutes to drive there from my work.



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<font color=red>Change the Sig of the Week!!!</font color=red>

 

[Matisaro]

They so dont let anyone on site without id, its kind of like a military base almost, even moreso since the buyout/layoff thing. But if you want I can show you the grounds, except I work from 6 am to 6 pm lol, so unless your lunchbreak is at midnight it may not be too feasable.

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[FatBurger]

I'm assuming you mean 6pm to 6am. And no, that wouldn't really work so much. I suppose I could come early (as you're getting off), but that's way too early to get out of bed for me.



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[Matisaro]

Yeah, damn night shift has fried my brain!

~Matisaro~
"Friends don't let friends buy Pentiums"
~Tbird1.3@1.55~

 

[FatBurger]

Oh well. Maybe someday.



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