Elmer Re...Like I said in a previous post, a product is the marriage between a design and a process, and you folks talk wonders about the design but the product may not live up to your dreams. AMD has real difficulty producing what they design.<<
Sure you say that, but you have difficulty explaining why Intel needs 10 x the fabs to produce 5 x the product. You say you have no idea of what Intel's yields are, even though you subcontract there occasionally, but claim to be an expert on AMD's yields when you have probably never even seen the place, much less know the wafer starts, how many are devoted to chipsets etc. So I must take your words with a grain of salt, just like your 1 million a wk claim. You have never explained satisfactorily why Dresden was named Fab of the yr. last yr. if the yields were so bad. Does Intel have a process lead now? Sure. Will it stay that way is the question.
The Bees, particularilly Yousef, feel like UMC will never be the equal of Intel at process. Don't bet on it. Several of the students, when I was at the UW 25 yrs ago, were from Taiwan, and I can guarantee you they were smart. Everybody in the dorm looked up to these guys in chemistry and physics. So I wouldn't just be too critical, if I were you of the Asian technologies. At the rate they are growing, TSMC and UMC will surpass Intel in foundry space and experience, and in the process, are likely to lead the world in process eventually.
Which leads us to another point. Are you better off with better design or process. Your answer above seems to concede design, but claims that manufacturing is more important. It wasn't that long ago, Intel had the best design and process. Now it is process, which has given Intel the upper hand. My bet is that within 5 to 10 yrs. UMC and/ or TSMC will rival Intel in process. At that point, Intel will once again have to live on design. Considering Intels past designs, Itanic, P4, Tulatin, etc, you should be getting worried.
Not only the Taiwanese, the Chinese, with all of their gov. support, high growth rates and abundant, but cheap labor, are likely to blow eveyone away. We will see.
Will hammer save the day? What if it doesn't?
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