AMD has denied reports claiming that it will shift 45 nm
microprocessor production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
Co.The move would be seen as the company reducing its foundry
relationship with Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing
(Singapore).
AMD said in a press release that it maintains strong
foundry relationships with Chartered for MPU production and TSMC for GPU and
chipset production. The rumours were probably started after AMD’s CEO Hector
Ruiz said AMD would seek to reduce expenses, partly by outsourcing more
production to foundries.
FBR stock analyst Mehdi Hosseini pointed out that TSMC was
enjoying stronger-than-expected increases in its wafer production. He claimed
that the expected capex increase was due in part to “winning high-end CPU”
business from AMD at the 45 nm node, with production expected in the third
quarter of 2008.
AMD said that Chartered will continue producing AMD x86
microprocessors, augmenting AMD fab operations in Dresden with flexible
capacity. TSMC will continue producing AMD’s graphics and chipset products.