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Technology Stocks : IDTI - an IC Play on Growth Markets -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rob S. who wrote (4547)	11/1/1997 3:03:00 PM
From: Rob S.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11555

Its importnat to understand the dynamics between die size plus simpilified processes and chip yields, and, therefore, the success in manufacturing and overal profitablility. The yield of semis is aprox. based on the "inverse square of the diameter". So, as the die size increases by 2, the yield reduces by at least a factor of four. It gets worst than that (for IDT's large die size competitors). Because of the smaller die size, IDT can also fit more die per waffer, increasing production capability and further reducing costs. AMD's yields on the K6 are reportedly just around 20%. IDT-C6's simplified manufacturing processes should also help increase yields compared to other Pentium class procesors. AMD has about twice the die size of the C6. Here's a recent article on AMD's yield problems: news.com