AMD: tape out phase in the Sea Islands

Mark Papermaster also said that AMD will actively use 28nm bulk CMOS manufacturing technology next year. So much so that bulk CMOS completely replaces the SOI process.

The technical director said that this process will primarily produce less complex chips (motherboard chipset, entry-level APU). Bulk CMOS technology using a bandwidth of 28 nm will hopefully help cut manufacturing costs. There are not expected to be any changes in the field of graphics cards, as they are much more complex, so the main role here will continue to be at TSMC.

Mark Papermaster also explained that Sea Islands (the Radeon HD 8000 product line) has reached the tape out phase. Mass production could ideally start at the end of the year, so the first swallows could arrive in the first quarter of 2013. The chips are made by TSMC at a bandwidth of 28 nm (as are the Southern Islands, i.e. HD 7000 series models), but optimizations can also improve power consumption and performance.

 

Source: digitimes.com, newsletter