AMD produce 45nm processors

Sunnyvale (CA) - While keeping his mouth shut about products like Bobcat and Bulldozer, AMD’s CTO Dirk Meyer did indicate during their Q3 conference call that Fab 36 is manufacturing 45nm processors "right now".

He said they’re on track for production ramp in the first half of 2008. AMD’s "first offense" for 45nm products will be server and desktop spaces, though Meyer said he would provide additional guidance in December. Basic yields are being attained right now at 45nm using existing materials.

On the 65nm front, Phenom in on track and will be launched "in the middle of Q4," according to Meyer. It will arrive at 2.5 GHz. So far in Q3, "tens of thousands" of quad-core Opterons have been shipped. They’re expecting "hundreds of thousands" to ship in Q4. Compare that to Intel’s two million quad-cores with twenty different models shipped in Q3. In order to attain the 20% market share AMD hopes for in quad-core space, they’ll have to ship at least 400,000 products in Q4. AMD also shipped record prior-line 65nm and 90nm products in the quarter with an overall ASP increase of roughly 3%.

It was reported Fab 30 has now been shut down and is in the process of conversion to Fab 38. When completed it will be AMD’s second 300mm fabrication facility. AMD’s upcoming RD670 chipset will also arrive in the channel very soon with a mid-quarter launch to end-users.