AMD Exec Resigns, Company Moves 7nm Chip Production To TSMC

[steven36]

AMD is losing executives at a surprising rate. Jim Anderson, GM and Senior Vice President of AMD's global Computing and Graphics sales, has resigned to pursue a CEO position at Lattice Semiconductor. AMD also announced that it is shifting all of its 7nm products to TSMC foundries, while long-time partner GlobalFoundries has announced that it is terminating work on the 7nm process.

 

 

Anderson accepted the President and CEO positions at Lattice Semiconductor, which is a step forward from his current SVP position. Anderson joins Lattice Semiconductor on September 4. Anderson also secured a position on Lattice's Board of Directors.

 

Anderson's departure comes on the heels of AMD's other recent defections, which include graphics chip architect Raja Koduri and marketing head Chris Hook's move to Intel.

 

AMD has appointed Saeid Moshkelani in Anderson's place. Moshkelani joined AMD in 2012 and currently serves as the EVP and GM of the Client Compute Group. AMD also announced that Darren Grasby, SVP of global Computing and Graphics sales and the president of AMD's EMEA operations, will now report directly to AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su. 

 

GlobalFoundries also announced separately that it is halting development of its 7nm FinFET process indefinitely. The company cites increased focus on wringing more longevity out of its 14nm/12nm FInFET nodes as its new path forward. That includes new RF, embedded memory, and low-power chips. The company is redirecting its R&D efforts accordingly.

 

The waning Moore's Law finds trailing nodes enjoying long-term success as newer processes become exponentially more expensive to develop. GlobalFoundries' strategy shift is surprising, and it also spun off its ASIC division. This division requires smaller nodes to remain competitive, so the spin-off will access "alternative foundry options" at 7nm and beyond, likely meaning products from other foundries.

 

AMD has a five-year Wafer Supply Agreement with GlobalFoundries that guarantees that AMD will purchase a predetermined number of wafers from the company or face levies. The agreement didn’t guarantee that AMD would utilize 7nm for its upcoming CPUs. However, the announcement stated that the agreement "establishes a framework for technology collaboration between AMD and GF at the 7nm technology node." We expect the companies will renegotiate the WSA to better reflect the new relationship.

 

AMD announced earlier this year that its 7nm Navi GPUs would come with TSMC silicon, and Lisa Su recently confirmed that the second-gen EPYC processors would also come with TSMC's 7nm process. AMD's Mark Papermaster penned a statement on the move, assuring customers that the company's roadmap remains intact:

 

Quote

AMD’s next major milestone is the introduction of our upcoming 7nm product portfolio, including the initial products with our second generation “Zen 2” CPU core and our new “Navi” GPU architecture. We have already taped out multiple 7nm products at TSMC, including our first 7nm GPU planned to launch later this year and our first 7nm server CPU that we plan to launch in 2019. Our work with TSMC on their 7nm node has gone very well and we have seen excellent results from early silicon. To streamline our development and align our investments closely with each of our foundry partner’s investments, today we are announcing we intend to focus the breadth of our 7nm product portfolio on TSMC’s industry-leading 7nm process. We also continue to have a broad partnership with GLOBALFOUNDRIES spanning multiple process nodes and technologies. We will leverage the additional investments GLOBALFOUNDRIES is making in their robust 14nm and 12nm technologies at their New York fab to support the ongoing ramp of our AMD Ryzen, AMD Radeon and AMD EPYC processors. We do not expect any changes to our product roadmaps as a result of these changes.

 

Source

[Matrix]

AMD hands TSMC its entire 7nm portfolio: Vega 20, Zen 2 and Navi right around the corner

Zen 2 and Navi right around the corner

Why it matters: This is the last piece of the puzzle in AMD's long journey to put its manufacturing strategy in order. Unfortunately this meant dropping Globalfoundries, and taking on TSMC as the go-to partner for its current portfolio. TSMC's manufacturing lead over Intel is substantial and AMD aims to capitalize on that.

Mark Papermaster, CTO of AMD, has announced that the company has finally leveled out its GPU and CPU development and unified everything under a single manufacturing node, at 7nm, handing TSMC the keys to the kingdom.

In a blog post, the exec explains how the company's long term vision has finally paid off and AMD is now in a position to put its competition between a rock and a hard place with advanced 7nm designs in both GPU and CPU segments, thanks exclusively to the help of TSMC. This announcement sets the stage for the departure of GlobalFoundries, AMD's other, oldest, foundry partner.

The announcement had already been hinted at during several corporate communications, events and calls, however, it is the first time AMD comes forward and effectively drives this narrative. Papermaster said "Our work with TSMC on their 7nm node has gone very well and we have seen excellent results from early silicon."

Papermaster goes on to report that multiple 7nm products have taped out at TSMC. This includes the workstation-class GPU, Vega 20, and the next generation CPU architecture, Zen 2, all manufactured by TSMC. Going forward, AMD will focus its entire product portfolio on TSMC's 7nm process, and that includes this year's Vega 20, followed by an early 2019 launch of the Zen 2-based server CPU, Epyc, and later that year, the Navi GPU architecture, the long-awaited 7nm follow-up to Polaris which AMD is now beginning to talk up.

For more time than most AMD fans would care to remember, the company had relied on GlobalFoundries to cater to its semiconductor manufacturing needs. The results, however, have been a mixed bag. GlobalFoundries has tripped itself up more than once while playing catch-up with Intel, having twice nixxed its developing processes. It trashed its 14nm development in favor of licensing it off Samsung, and now it has announced it has ended its 7nm node. In the meantime, TSMC, the backup fab for AMD, not only delivered where GlobalFoundries failed, but managed to overtake Intel in manufacturing technology, and this has paid off.

The last CPUs built by GlobalFoundries for AMD.

While recognizing GlobalFoundries' role in producing 14nm and 12nm GPUs and CPUs, in particular for Zen and Zen+, which proved great successes in restoring AMD's reputation, it seems that the relationship between AMD and its oldest foundry partner will not go beyond those nodes. With TSMC, AMD now has the weapons to fend off its biggest competitor, Intel.

 

source