[TechEye] GlobalFoundries to buy IBM Semi

[Idontcare]

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...rbon-nanotubes-can-restore-moores-law-by-2020

"and this week IBM announced it expects to have a commercial CNT chip ready by the year 2020"

- Maybe IBM is just getting out of the silicon business, not the foundry.

To take anything to production you absolutely must retain the ability of knowing how to ramp to HVM using the same toolsets.

With CNT the only thing that changes is the channel, it is no longer silicon, but everything else about the IC is exactly the same (including the use of silicon for the wafer).

 

[cytg111]

Then what do you take away from these conflicting stories? On one hand you have IBM stating they're on track to roll out CNT by 2020 and on the other they're selling their foundry business .. all within the same week (+/-). What gives ?

 

[NTMBK]

Then what do you take away from these conflicting stories? On one hand you have IBM stating they're on track to roll out CNT by 2020 and on the other they're selling their foundry business .. all within the same week (+/-). What gives ?

Left hand not talking to the right hand? Perhaps the new owner is the one who will be producing CNTs? Who knows.

 

[Idontcare]

Then what do you take away from these conflicting stories? On one hand you have IBM stating they're on track to roll out CNT by 2020 and on the other they're selling their foundry business .. all within the same week (+/-). What gives ?

Nothing less than morale management.

Tell people they have a future, job security, so they finish out their last remaining items on the to-do list before you let them know their services are no longer needed.

Do you think AT&T told the fine folks at Bell Labs that they were about to be handed pink slips when they announced that they were spinning off their manufacturing division as Lucent Technologies?

They'll keep the TJ Watson research lab running for a while to mine out the low-hanging patentable fruit for anything they currently see as being contenders in the post-Si era, but that will be fully milked in a couple years.

 

[cytg111]

Relevent

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...in-chips-amid-talks-to-sell-part-of-unit.html

IBM keeps doing the science and IP work. Corporates with GF for implemention on their own chips. Licenses same IP to GF for use on other products.
An alternative way of opening up their fab tech to make a $ in the open chip-fabbing market.
(guess this could rub off on AMD too ?)