AMD Zen And K12 Designs Completed And Taped Out

[dark zero]

AMD Zen And K12 Designs Completed And Taped Out – On Track For 2016 And 2017 Availability

AMD’s next generation x86 and ARM high performance cores code named “Zen” and “K12” have reportedly taped out according to the linkedin profile of an AMD design engineer. Coincidentally AMD’s President and CEO Lisa Su had also announced at the company’s Q3 earnings call that the company’s design teams have successfully taped out several FinFET designs at multiple foundries in Q3 2015.

We reported in July that AMD had taped out two FinFET designs in Q2 2015. AMD then followed up in Q3 by taping out several other FinFET products at more than one foundry. AMD’s CEO did not go into detail with regards to which designs taped out on which specific process node or at which foundry. However AMD’s established foundry partners for FinFET products include TSMC with its 16FF+ process and Globalfoundries with its 14LPP process. So it’s a safe bet that these are the foundries Su was referring to, with Samsung standing in as a potential third player and a second source to Globalfoundries. Since Samsung and Globalfoundries have partnered on 14nm FinFET LPE and LPP, AMD could chose to go with either one.


Source: http://wccftech.com/amd-zen-k12-taped/

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So... AMD had Zen ready to production... and seems that their ARM project wasn't dead after all.

Also... Seems that they will have 16 nm and 14 nm processors...


We know that Zen will be 14 nm chip, and Artic will be a 16 nm one... maybe K12 is a 16 nm?


And where is Bristol Ridge? Maybe is a 16 nm chip too? Since 28 nm HDL won't work past 35 watts.

 

[Shehriazad]

Well...Ima wait and see. If they can sell me 8 cores/16 threads at the end of 2016/start of 2017 with decent per-core performance(at least +30% IPC vs FX) I miiiight take a look at AMD again.

But...yea...let's wait.

 

[MrTeal]

I was going to question the source of the information on K12 being taped out, but now that I've read it I'm reassured. It's hard to imagine a more rock solid source than a bulletpoint on someone's LinkedIn profile.

 

[Dresdenboy]

I was going to question the source of the information on K12 being taped out, but now that I've read it I'm reassured. It's hard to imagine a more rock solid source than a bulletpoint on someone's LinkedIn profile.

Which has been removed on said profile btw.

 

[LTC8K6]

According to a LinkedIn profile, both Zen and K12 should have been taped out already.

Should have been?

The source is apparently someone's resume' on linkedin?

 

[redzo]

I remember bulldozer getting hyped. It started a year before its launch. The inter web forum threads were burning.

The hype helps the future product a lot, but it needs to deliver at the same time, otherwise it will backfire.

AMD shouldn't assign precious resources for marketing. The hype is about to start and it's free. They(AMD) should concentrate on delivering.

 

[2is]

I remember bulldozer getting hyped. It started a year before its launch. The inter web forum threads were burning.

The hype helps the future product a lot, but it needs to deliver at the same time, otherwise it will backfire.

AMD shouldn't assign precious resources for marketing. The hype is about to start and it's free. They(AMD) should concentrate on delivering.

At this point in the cycle, it's too late to do anything about it's performance. So whether it's good, bad or just ok, it is what it is. The only thing they can control now is the hype behind it.

 

[redzo]

Quite true.

Well, you already know what the product is capable of. At least do your best for market availability ASAP and try to keep that over hype under control!

 

[mysticjbyrd]

Quite true.

Well, you already know what the product is capable of. At least do your best for market availability ASAP and try to keep that over hype under control!

Why would you do that? A company wants people ordering these things asap! That's why preordering video games is such a huge thing now. They want people to buy it before they even get a review on it.

If Zen turns out to be a bust, then what would AMD gain by telling everyone to not get their hopes up?


Can you imagine another company doing that?

Beats Audio:
Yah, our headphones are actually overpriced cheap crap, but they look cool! That's what's important when you are alone in your room, right?

 

[frozentundra123456]

Well, there is a middle ground. Publicity is good, but too much hype that the product does not live up to may lead to a few early sales, but tarnishes the reputation of the company and the new product for a long time, and ultimately probably leads to fewer sales.

Actually, I am not even sure the "hype" leads to that many additional sales. AMD fanboys who promote and believe the hype are going to buy the product no matter what, and more objective consumers are going to wait for true benchmarks anyway.

 

[mysticjbyrd]

Well, there is a middle ground. Publicity is good, but too much hype that the product does not live up to may lead to a few early sales, but tarnishes the reputation of the company and the new product for a long time, and ultimately probably leads to fewer sales.

Actually, I am not even sure the "hype" leads to that many additional sales. AMD fanboys who promote and believe the hype are going to buy the product no matter what, and more objective consumers are going to wait for true benchmarks anyway.

I am certainly not a fanboy of any hardware provider. I think it's rather silly, when we have actual quantitative tests to critique and compare performance. But I am not sure AMD's reputation in the CPU market could get much worse at this point, lol.

I agree with the second part. Hardware isn't like games in that a lot of people wait on reviews and benchmarks before making purchasing decisions. Well most people probably just ask someone else more knowledgeable, because they actually read the reviews, and make their decisions based on what they are told by them. Either way, they generally wait a little while.

 

[redzo]

Well, there is a middle ground. Publicity is good, but too much hype that the product does not live up to may lead to a few early sales, but tarnishes the reputation of the company and the new product for a long time, and ultimately probably leads to fewer sales.

Actually, I am not even sure the "hype" leads to that many additional sales. AMD fanboys who promote and believe the hype are going to buy the product no matter what, and more objective consumers are going to wait for true benchmarks anyway.

I do not get that frozentundra123456 meant to call you a fanboy; out off the above words.

Also, I do not think that your beats audio product analogy stands:

PC consumers are a lot more technical than your beats buyers and very budget obsessed. Non PC buyers(non budget obsessed and less technical) migrate to the apple camp anyways.
Do not get me wrong, I do not question the presence of brand loyalty in PC land, but your beats audio analogy stands better for apple product consumers.

 

[mahoshojo]

I remember bulldozer getting hyped. It started a year before its launch. The inter web forum threads were burning.

The hype helps the future product a lot, but it needs to deliver at the same time, otherwise it will backfire.

AMD shouldn't assign precious resources for marketing. The hype is about to start and it's free. They(AMD) should concentrate on delivering.

That's why their CMO was gone. She'd done no better than free fanboys.

 

[Soulkeeper]

Anyone else noticed how AMD never seems to have a product release for the holiday season ?
Any theories on why they seem to prefer spring/mid-year releases ?

 

[2is]

Anyone else noticed how AMD never seems to have a product release for the holiday season ?
Any theories on why they seem to prefer spring/mid-year releases ?

You say that like every manufacturer releases their new products around the holidays.

New iPhones release in September, Intel releases processors whenever they want to. NVidia more or less the same with GPU's. Next gen consoles are about the only hot item I can think of that regularly releases around the holidays.

 

[svenge]

Anyone else noticed how AMD never seems to have a product release for the holiday season ?
Any theories on why they seem to prefer spring/mid-year releases ?

Because a June paper launch from AMD = November/December general availability?

 

[PPB]

Because a June paper launch from AMD = November/December general availability?

You are confusing the Broadwell C launch probably.