TSMC 40nm yields as low as 20%

[Phynaz]

Reportedly not fixed as TSMC claimed.

EETimes article

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Phynaz
Reportedly not fixed as TSMC claimed.

EETimes article

Interesting. For those looking for an upgrade, it might make sense to re-evaluate current generation options because it looks like next gen is going to be a while or scarce and pricey.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Well this is bad news for sure. Wonder just how much impact this is having on the other big customers of TSMC, such as Altera. Guess it will be awhile before 40nm truly takes off. GF and UMC might provide nice alternatives to this mess but is TSMC the only one to have issues with 40nm? are they the only ones currently providing this process technology?

But the real worry here is that... I cant get my hands on brand new DX11 parts anytime soon!

 

[Sylvanas]

I should think ATI (AMD) and Nvidia are seriously looking to hook up with GF as soon as possible as GFs foundry have been up there with the best for many years when it was all under AMD.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Well this is bad news for sure. Wonder just how much impact this is having on the other big customers of TSMC, such as Altera. Guess it will be awhile before 40nm truly takes off. GF and UMC might provide nice alternatives to this mess but is TSMC the only one to have issues with 40nm? are they the only ones currently providing this process technology?

But the real worry here is that... I cant get my hands on brand new DX11 parts anytime soon!

No need to worry. It'll feel like decades before the first DX11 titles surface. IMHO.

 

[akugami]

Originally posted by: Keysplayr

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Well this is bad news for sure. Wonder just how much impact this is having on the other big customers of TSMC, such as Altera. Guess it will be awhile before 40nm truly takes off. GF and UMC might provide nice alternatives to this mess but is TSMC the only one to have issues with 40nm? are they the only ones currently providing this process technology?

But the real worry here is that... I cant get my hands on brand new DX11 parts anytime soon!

No need to worry. It'll feel like decades before the first DX11 titles surface. IMHO.

I am plenty worried. This means the next round of incessant bickering over minor details of which company/card/feature is better will be delayed. What the heck am I going to read in the mean time?

 

[Wreckage]

It looks like NVIDIA has been using both TSMC and UMC for its chips so it may not be as affected by this.
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090420PB205.html

 

[iandh]

Well, at least I got my hands on one while newegg had them in stock...

That said, laffola at how nobody will by the Diamond brand 4770's at newegg... they've been in stock forever

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: akugami

Originally posted by: Keysplayr

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Well this is bad news for sure. Wonder just how much impact this is having on the other big customers of TSMC, such as Altera. Guess it will be awhile before 40nm truly takes off. GF and UMC might provide nice alternatives to this mess but is TSMC the only one to have issues with 40nm? are they the only ones currently providing this process technology?

But the real worry here is that... I cant get my hands on brand new DX11 parts anytime soon!

No need to worry. It'll feel like decades before the first DX11 titles surface. IMHO.

I am plenty worried. This means the next round of incessant bickering over minor details of which company/card/feature is better will be delayed. What the heck am I going to read in the mean time?

War and Peace?

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
It looks like NVIDIA has been using both TSMC and UMC for its chips so it may not be as affected by this.
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090420PB205.html

TSMC handled 90% of Nvidia's products and UMC only 10%. Do you know for a fact that UMC could handle much more capacity if TSMC's 40nm never really matures? Maybe Idontcare could chime in on this?

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: Keysplayr

Originally posted by: Wreckage
It looks like NVIDIA has been using both TSMC and UMC for its chips so it may not be as affected by this.
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090420PB205.html

TSMC handled 90% of Nvidia's products and UMC only 10%. Do you know for a fact that UMC could handle much more capacity if TSMC's 40nm never really matures? Maybe Idontcare could chime in on this?

I'm not a NVIDIA insider such as yourself, I'm just going by what I read in the article. I've never heard what % they give to either company. Where did you here that?

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Well this is bad news for sure. Wonder just how much impact this is having on the other big customers of TSMC, such as Altera. Guess it will be awhile before 40nm truly takes off. GF and UMC might provide nice alternatives to this mess but is TSMC the only one to have issues with 40nm? are they the only ones currently providing this process technology?

But the real worry here is that... I cant get my hands on brand new DX11 parts anytime soon!

Too late to redesign parts for GF and UMC.
ATI will probably be first with GF parts though, since AMD would have been idiotic not to switch future ATI designs to GF after the acquisition. If we don't see ATI launching GF produced parts by Fall 2010, somebody at AMD deserves to be fired.

And UMC is way behind in the fab game, they won't be fabbing 40nm parts for a while.

 

[Sylvanas]

UMC is 10% of Nvidia's operations so TSMC's problems greatly affect them. Things are looking up for GF at least.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

Originally posted by: Keysplayr

Originally posted by: Wreckage
It looks like NVIDIA has been using both TSMC and UMC for its chips so it may not be as affected by this.
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090420PB205.html

TSMC handled 90% of Nvidia's products and UMC only 10%. Do you know for a fact that UMC could handle much more capacity if TSMC's 40nm never really matures? Maybe Idontcare could chime in on this?

I'm not a NVIDIA insider such as yourself, I'm just going by what I read in the article. I've never heard what % they give to either company. Where did you here that?

It's not inside info. I read it in a public article a few months back. I'll have to dig to find it.

 

[KingstonU]

Originally posted by: akugami

Originally posted by: Keysplayr
No need to worry. It'll feel like decades before the first DX11 titles surface. IMHO.

I am plenty worried. This means the next round of incessant bickering over minor details of which company/card/feature is better will be delayed. What the heck am I going to read in the mean time?

Sad but so true. :laugh:

 

[Kuzi]

I read somewhere a week ago that TSMC expects yields on 40nm parts to improve within 2 months, lets say August/September time frame. Not sure how true is though.

I'm sure many people would want to buy next-gen Nvidia and ATI cards by Q4 this year, so hopefully the yield issue will be solved by then.

 

[nyker96]

good thing I just went ahead and got a 4850, was waiting on 4770 to get below 90. looks like this will not happen for a while now. if tsmc doesn't get this fixed we won't see any dx11 parts in q4 either.

 

[Blazer7]

Even if TSMC doesn't fix it there 're still good chances that we are gonna see DX11 parts from both companies before year's end. The real question is at what price range. Availability is another good question. I guess that by the time of the Windows 7 launch we'll know more.

 

[faxon]

if things keep going like this, intel is going to stomp all over ATI and nvidia next gen unless they can get a place to fab their GPUs at lol. AMD and Nvidia already said they have plans to fab GPUs at GF for the next node revision (32nm/28nm whatever it is called), so at best intel's lead here may be short lived if larrabee turns out to be an underperformer

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

It looks like NVIDIA has been using both TSMC and UMC for its chips so it may not be as affected by this.

As Keys says, the vast majority of nVidia's manufacturing comes from TSMC.

 

[Kuzi]

Originally posted by: faxon
AMD and Nvidia already said they have plans to fab GPUs at GF for the next node revision (32nm/28nm whatever it is called), so at best intel's lead here may be short lived if larrabee turns out to be an underperformer

Yes, AMD will most definitely use the smaller (28nm) process sizes from GF for their GPUs in the future. Nvidia will probably follow suit, especially if GF is faster at getting to smaller nods than TSMC (which seems the case right now).

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Originally posted by: Wreckage

It looks like NVIDIA has been using both TSMC and UMC for its chips so it may not be as affected by this.

As Keys says, the vast majority of nVidia's manufacturing comes from TSMC.

If TSMC cannot overcome their 40nm woes, then I believe it's going to be very slow going to see next gen parts from either Nvidia or ATI. Even 40nm refreshes/shrinks on current architectures, just like we are observing with ATI's 4770s. Ramping up production at GF or UMC to the volume that ATI/Nvidia need for properly filling the channel, is going to take a lot of time. Again, this is a big IF.