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Non-Tech : Kirk's Market Thoughts -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robohogs who wrote (4673)	3/2/2017 10:45:59 AM
From: Kirk ©	Respond to of 26434

Foundry 10nm yield rates still unsatisfactory Cage Chao, Taipei; Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES [Thursday 2 March 2017] Unsatisfactory yield rates for foundries' 10nm FinFET technologies have pushed back smartphone SoC suppliers' schedules to ship their next-generation products, according to industry sources. Yield rates for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) 10nm process technology have still been too low to boost the process to economies of scale, said the sources. The schedule for shipments of MediaTek's Helio X30, reportedly the first 10nm smartphone SoC from TSMC commercially available, has already been delayed, the sources indicated. MediaTek just rolled out its 10nm Helio X30 SoC-series. The company expects smartphones using the chips to be available in the second quarter of 2017. MediaTek co-COO Jeffrey Ju was quoted in a recent Nikkei report as saying the Helio X30 chip is "a bit delayed because the yield rate of 10nm process technology has not yet reached a satisfactory level." In addition, yield rates for Samsung's 10nm process technology have been low affecting production for its own Exynos 8895 and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 chips, the sources revealed. The unsatisfactory 10nm yield rates have already pushed back Samsung's schedule to launch the next-generation Galaxy S8 smartphone. Despite poor yield rates for foundries' 10nm process technologies, the foundry sector remains a seller's market, the sources identified. Most fabless firms tend to be silent on the issue, the sources said. If foundries are able to improve their 10nm yield rates in the second quarter, smartphones using 10nm chips will account for up to 10% of the overall shipments during the quarter, the sources estimated. The proportion is unlikely to climb substantially until the third quarter, the sources said. digitimes.com