Globalfoundries Celebrates Shipment of 250 Thousand 32nm/HKMG Wafers to AMD

From X-bit Labs: Globalfoundries announced on Wednesday that it had reached a major milestone at Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany: the shipment of a quarter million wafers based on 32nm high-K metal gate (HKMG) technology, which took about a year. The contract maker of semiconductors stressed that it had exceeded its customer’s product shipment requirements and the 32nm yield challenges are well behind it and AMD.

“In just one quarter, we were able to see more than a doubling of yields on 32nm, allowing us to exit 2011 having exceeded our 32nm product shipment requirements. Based on this successful ramp of 32nm HKMG, we are committed to moving ahead on 28nm with Globalfoundries,” said Rory Read, AMDs president and chief executive officer.

The milestone represents a significant lead over other foundries in HKMG manufacturing and carries on a long tradition of rapidly ramping leading-edge technologies to volume production. On a unit basis, cumulative 32nm shipments for the first five quarters of wafer production are more than double that achieved during the same period of the 45nm technology ramp, demonstrating that the overall 32nm ramp has significantly outpaced the 45nm ramp, despite the integration of a number of new and complex elements in both design and process technologies.

Globalfoundries manufactures critically important central processing unit (CPU) and accelerated processing unit (APU) products for AMD, including latest multi-core microprocessors based on Bulldozer micro-architecture as well as hybrid Fusion chips with x86 cores and graphics processors on a single piece of silicon. With 32nm HKMG supply unconstrained, AMD can now increase output of its latest chips, including new Opteron processors for servers, FX CPUs for desktops, A-series "Llano" and "Trinity" APUs for various client systems as well as other products, which will improve the company's margins and profitability.

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