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AMD cuts MPU production at Chartered; 65nm ramp bigger in bulk-CMOS |
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Apr 27, 2007 at 02:12 PM |
 Chartered Semiconductor is seeing a significant shift in customer needs and requirements at leading-edge technology nodes while experiencing a slowdown in demand from AMD.
Last year, AMD had picked up the slack at Chartered's 300mm facility, Fab 7, as MPU production for the Xbox 360 using SOI wafers declined. However, Chia Song Hwee, President & CEO of Chartered, noted in a conference call with financial analysts to discuss first quarter results that the foundry had seen declines in wafer orders at the 90nm node that related to the PC market.
Hwee acknowledged that AMD - though he didn't mention them by name - had reduced orders to slightly above the minimum monthly contracted levels, which had affected utilization rates at Fab 7 for 90nm production mix.
Chartered said that the ramp under way at Fab 7 was due to other customers loadings that included the anticipated migration of the Xbox 360 MPU to the 65nm node using SOI wafers. Chartered noted that through the third quarter it expected increased wafer starts for Microsoft to meet expected end of year demand and a complete migration to the 65nm node.
However, it will be bulk-CMOS 300mm wafers using Chartered's 65nm process in 2006 that will be the growth market for the Singapore-based foundry, according to Hwee.
Indeed, Hwee said that 65nm bulk-CMOS production would exceed SOI by year-end and that Fab 7 should be ramped to approximately 25,000wspm with capital spending plan unchanged at $800 million.
Reinforcing the shift in wafer/process shift, Hwee remarked that a significant amount of the customer interest in its 45nm process was for bulk-CMOS applications. These included communications chips as well as GPUs. He noted that GPU production with an unidentified customer could enter 65nm production in the second half of this year.
Chartered is also currently preparing customer IP blocks for 45nm process sampling and expects meaningful production ramp in the second-half of 2008.
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