TSMC to capture low-end 'Fusion' fabrication?

Monday 26th February 2007, 01:01:00 PM, written by Geo

Digitimes is reporting AMD "Fusion" tea leaves that appear to be worth stirring around. This would be fourth hand reporting, as Goldman Sachs told a Chinese newspaper which was picked up by Digitimes and is now analysed to within an inch of its life by us. At any rate, the report indicates that there will be both a high-end and low-end "Fusion" CPU/GPU model, and that while the high-end model is slated for Chartered's Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) line, the low-end model might land at TSMC. This is interesting on several fronts, not least for the idea of having two models of Fusion for high-end and "entry level". Though what is meant by high end is liable to be more relative than absolute.

First, let's put our skeptics hat on. If Fusion will only appear in early 2009, might it be a bit early to making this kind of decision? Second, Digitimes has a propensity for being the recipient of manufacturers leaks aimed at keeping their names in the press as being in the running for various bits of business. It has probably not been lost on TSMC in the least that by any theory of Fusion's market segments targets that AMD's IGP lineup --and thus a decent chunk of TSMC's business-- will be going away. This is exactly the kind of perception TSMC would like to fight by floating such a rumour themselves, whether it's true or not. Lastly, this would seem to require TSMC to also be fabbing the CPU portion of the chip, and that's just not something they've done for AMD up to now.

So, having poured cold water on the idea, let's take the other side now. This does seem within the realm of reason to us on a few fronts. It really isn't too early to be picking fabrication process and library targets, as much must follow from those decisions and thus the sooner the better. Secondly, ATI's close relationship with outside foundries like TSMC is one of the things that AMD proclaimed as a plus in early public discussions of their merger. And thirdly, since the report notes that possibly Chartered's SOI process will be the only one to receive Fusion work, it seems just as likely to be AMD dangling both carrot and stick in front of TSMC as the other way around. Only it's their carrot to dangle, so that would add weight to the posibility of it coming to pass.

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