Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Profits who wrote (29175)	2/27/1998 10:11:00 PM
From: James Yu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574061

Marvick, Here is a good news and we will see the so called "bah bah bah..." Intel's experts to talk on AMD thread. AMD, IBM Ink Two-Year K6 Production Deal SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1998 FEB 27 (Newsbytes) -- By Craig Menefee, Newsbytes. Advanced Micro Devices [NYSE:AMD] has turned to IBM [NYSE:IBM] for help making AMD-K6 microprocessors. The two-year foundry agreement was announced Friday morning by AMD. IBM plans to commence with K6 wafer starts in the third quarter of this year, AMD said. Volume retail shipments of devices using the IBM-built K6 processors will begin sometime in the fourth quarter, if all goes as planned. "It'll be just in time for Christmas, which could work out to be a great deal," remarked AMD's Scott Allen, speaking with Newsbytes. AMD said IBM will "somewhat augment" the AMD Fab 25 chip-making plant in Austin. The plant has received wide coverage because of AMD's seeming inability to eliminate stubborn yield problems there. Low yields caused the firm to miss its 1997 production targets and reportedly delayed some deliveries. Retail channels hate that. Asked if those problems had influenced AMD to sign the foundry deal, Allen said AMD won't discuss the state of its Fab 25 plant until the next quarterly report, due April 7. Of the current deal, Allen declared: "This is a straight foundry deal that increases K6 capacity. It enables us to satisfy demand and advance K6 in the marketplace." Despite yield problems, AMD beat analysts' predictions in mid-January by posting only a $12.3 million loss on $613.2 million revenues. Its last quarterly revenues grew by 23 percent over the same quarter in 1996 and units shipped were reportedly up even more. IBM spokesperson Bill O'Leary told Newsbytes the K6 chips will be produced in the firm's primary production fab in Burlington, Vermont, which has established a very good history with quarter-micron chips. He said the IBM-made AMD chips are not slotted for IBM products, even though the firm has announced several K6-based Aptiva consumer PCs (Newsbytes, August 19, 1997). "Where the processors go will be strictly up to AMD," O'Leary added. O'Leary told Newsbytes that adding K6 production to the Burlington plant will not affect IBM's current production deal with Cyrix. As a straight foundry deal, he explained, the arrangement bears no resemblance to the deal under which IBM makes, brands and markets processors that use Cyrix designs. One industry watcher speculated to Newsbytes the AMD foundry deal could be a tentative advance toward a deeper relationship between the two firms. He cited IBM's trouble-free 0.25-micron Burlington production facility as one engineering benefit that could flow to AMD if the two firms move closer in the future. He also speculated IBM might be partly motivated by a need for a "Plan B" should the recent buyout of Cyrix by competitor National Semiconductor start to cause problems. National Semi was reported yesterday as having signed a microprocessor production deal with Taiwan Semiconductor. That deal presumably includes Cyrix designs. Newsbytes notes IBM's new copper-circuit chip technology could also greatly benefit AMD, since it opens the way to much faster clock speeds with no immediate need to reengineer circuits or drop below a quarter-micron feature size. Also, IBM plans a $700 million chip development facility in New York that will use the copper processes on 12-inch silicon wafers. By contrast, current designs use aluminum circuits on 8-inch wafers (Newsbytes, November 18, 1997). Larger wafers would greatly increase yield-per-wafer figures while dropping production costs. Neither firm would speculate openly on the possibilities of deepening their relationship. Remarked Allen: "Obviously, IBM is a great company. They have state-of-the-art capacity in microelectronics and excellent process technology. Of course we'll continue exploring ways for the two companies to cooperate." He added: "We've had a great relationship with IBM for years." Reported by Newsbytes News Network: newsbytes.com . (19980227/Press & Reader Contact: Scott Allen, AMD, 408-749-3311 Best wishes James