AMD Planning To Ship 32nm Chips By Q4 2010
Whatever you can do, I can do better. Or, at least that's the impression we get from AMD on this one. With chip makers like ARM and Intel already expecting to ship processors built with 32 nanometer process technology by the end of this year, AMD has finally come forward and admitted that it too is actually working on 32 nanometer chips.
In a recent interview with InformationWeek, the company's CEO Dirk Meyer stated that it would be "ramping up" production of next generation 32 nanometer processors around the middle of 2010, but "volume production" wouldn't begin until Q4 2010. It's noted that AMD typically lags behind Intel by around six to twelve months in shipping next gen products, so news that it would be behind in the 32nm race isn't all that shocking. Of course, we still feel that being so far behind is probably one of the reasons AMD keeps losing market share, but what do we know?
At any rate, it should also be noted that AMD's future 32nm chips will be the first that aren't actually built and fabricated by AMD proper. Thanks to a recent spinoff of its manufacturing facilities, the newly formed The Foundry Company will be handling those duties. Also of note, we're told that Dirk asserted that AMD wouldn't be diving into the netbook arena for "at least a couple of years." Of course, given that the company doesn't have a planned successor to its rather popular Geode processor, we suspect that this was kind of a given.
Personally, we're a bit curious as to what AMD's aiming for with these 32nm chips. Sure, it's hoping to
provide quicker and better all the way around, but with quotes like the following from Mr. Meyer, we're left wondering where that killer instinct has gone: "The way in which consumers and businesses ought to gauge the value of the PC or notebook shouldn't be in performance benchmarks, because those benchmarks do not reflect what people do with the PC. It's not just about the CPU. People can get distracted by how fast is the CPU, and then have a lousy graphics experience when they get home." Benchmarks don't matter, Dirk? Maybe you should conduct some marketing studies.
In a recent interview with InformationWeek, the company's CEO Dirk Meyer stated that it would be "ramping up" production of next generation 32 nanometer processors around the middle of 2010, but "volume production" wouldn't begin until Q4 2010. It's noted that AMD typically lags behind Intel by around six to twelve months in shipping next gen products, so news that it would be behind in the 32nm race isn't all that shocking. Of course, we still feel that being so far behind is probably one of the reasons AMD keeps losing market share, but what do we know?At any rate, it should also be noted that AMD's future 32nm chips will be the first that aren't actually built and fabricated by AMD proper. Thanks to a recent spinoff of its manufacturing facilities, the newly formed The Foundry Company will be handling those duties. Also of note, we're told that Dirk asserted that AMD wouldn't be diving into the netbook arena for "at least a couple of years." Of course, given that the company doesn't have a planned successor to its rather popular Geode processor, we suspect that this was kind of a given.
Personally, we're a bit curious as to what AMD's aiming for with these 32nm chips. Sure, it's hoping to
provide quicker and better all the way around, but with quotes like the following from Mr. Meyer, we're left wondering where that killer instinct has gone: "The way in which consumers and businesses ought to gauge the value of the PC or notebook shouldn't be in performance benchmarks, because those benchmarks do not reflect what people do with the PC. It's not just about the CPU. People can get distracted by how fast is the CPU, and then have a lousy graphics experience when they get home." Benchmarks don't matter, Dirk? Maybe you should conduct some marketing studies.
