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There seems to have been a little hop and a skip but no meaningful jump into 65nm production at the leading foundries!

Early indications were that this would be the year the major leading-edge foundries (TSMC, UMC and Chartered) would see a significant boost from the 65nm migration. However, with all three companies having now reported 2Q results, the lack of any substantial 65nm ramp is one of the most intriguing aspects coming out of the 2Q reporting.

UMC's CEO and Chairman, Jackson Hu, had to fend off repeated questions from analysts trying to get to grips with the lack of 65nm activity coming from customers. He had mentioned in his prepared comments that 65nm yields had been ‘very satisfactory,' but migration was only in the early stages with a ‘meaningful' ramp and revenue was not expected until early 2008!

Chartered's President and Chief Executive Officer, Chia Song Hwee, had a similar story to tell:

"Despite being on track for all customers' programs, we are seeing a slower ramp in our 65nm business than we had anticipated before."

Chartered's Hwee noted that revenue from 65nm wafers made up 6 percent of its 2Q revenue total and expected that figure to increase to 10 percent in the next quarter.  He also indicated that 65nm was indeed ramping, though at a slower rate than he had anticipated.

TSMC's executives also noted in their most recent conference call that revenue from 65nm increased more than four-fold and accounted for 3 percent of its total wafer revenue, up from 1 percent in the first quarter. TSMC expects to be above the 10 percent level by year-end.

Under questioning from financial analysts, Rick Tsai, CEO and President of TSMC revealed that the company had approximately 10 customers in production at the 65nm node with 3 to 5 actually in volume production.

Dr. Aart de Geus, Chairman and CEO of EDA specialist Synopsys, also noted in a recent conference call that design activity across all semiconductor companies had been increasing. In the first six months of 2007, 65nm design activity had grown by more than 50 percent and was put at 441 designs.

It would therefore seem that the pipeline is growing but the timeline for many tape-outs has lengthened from previous projections, especially in relation to the major foundries.