Nvidia: Yield Problems are "Easing," Fermi Doing Just Fine
It took longer than most power users would have liked for Nvidia's GF100 architecture to show up on retail shelves, and part of the reason for that can be traced back to manufacturing issues at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the chip maker producing Fermi parts for Nvidia. This isn't something Nvidia has wanted to talk a whole lot about, but according to recent statements made by David White, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Nvidia, things are starting to improve.
"Supply constraints are finally easing," White explained during a quarterly conference call with financial analysts.
Back around mid-April, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang described the manufacturing yield problems as having more to do with high demand than anything else.
"From a supply perspective, we wish we had more 40nm capacity," Huang said. "We are working TSMC really closely. They are doing a fab job. Yields are improving,. Capacities are improving. But we are finding it hard to keep up. Everyone is clamoring to have Fermis out the door. We are working really hard to get Fermis out the door."
We have no reason to doubt Huang or White at this point, as GF100 graphics cards are pretty easy to come by these days, which wasn't necessarily the case a few weeks ago. A quick glance at Newegg shows no less than nine different GTX 480 models in stock.
"Supply constraints are finally easing," White explained during a quarterly conference call with financial analysts.
Back around mid-April, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang described the manufacturing yield problems as having more to do with high demand than anything else.
"From a supply perspective, we wish we had more 40nm capacity," Huang said. "We are working TSMC really closely. They are doing a fab job. Yields are improving,. Capacities are improving. But we are finding it hard to keep up. Everyone is clamoring to have Fermis out the door. We are working really hard to get Fermis out the door."
We have no reason to doubt Huang or White at this point, as GF100 graphics cards are pretty easy to come by these days, which wasn't necessarily the case a few weeks ago. A quick glance at Newegg shows no less than nine different GTX 480 models in stock.
