AMD is doing a great job all round, ask MS and look at their efficiency!!!

[W1nTry]

Ok I was kinda lazy to start 2 threads so I bundled it into 1, have a read at how Great AMD is doing and how its tech and strategies are helping others:

AMD's Fab 30 "works at 150%" capacity

Planned for 20K, manufactures 30K


By Theo Valich: Friday 07 April 2006, 08:30

AMD IS TOUTING its Fab 30 as the most efficient manufacturing facility in the world, and uses various tricks to keep up with demand. This is constantly exceeding the supply, as we've reported numerous times.
However, the reason why a single Fab managed to take 20% of overall x86 market share wasn't a secret stash of German green-eyed elves who miraculously produced extra CPUs out of thin air, but rather AMD gives us the frankly astonishing information that Fab 30 is actually working at 150% capacity.

General public knowledge regarding Fab 30 production is the maximum capacity of 20,000 wafer starts a month. Last month, the company refreshed the marketing materials with the claim that Fab 30 starts 25,000 wafers on a monthly basis. But this is not the final number.

Udo Nothelfer, VP of AMD's Fab36 told us that the current production of Fab30 isn't 20,000 or 25,000 wafer starts per month, but a rather astonishing 30,000, or 50% more than company designed the Fab for.

How was this achieved? AMD reps claim that it is linked to a "Mixed Mode" manufacturing method, side-by-side revenue and test manufacturing and reaction time of a single day, to start producing additional ordered wafers. In the end, it will all boil down to APM and the fact that AMD uses zero-floor wafer storage above the machines and heads of engineers.

Of course, we cannot go into the whole yield problem, since AMD is being very tight-lipped about the actual yields, just like every other player in this particular branch of the manufacturing business. But 30,000 wafer starts a month is something you can see only on a small hill next to Dresden in Germany.

AND here's that said model in operation, helping MS get more Xbox 360s heck even more PS3s:

AMD tech is saving Xbox 360 CPU

Yields improved thanks to implementation of APM tech


By Theo Valich: Friday 07 April 2006, 08:19

 YOU DO NOT have to be a wizard to know that AMD's Advanced Precision Manufacturing marchitecture is doing wonders for its own fabs. However, it seems that the APM approach isn't limited to AMD fabs alone, since Chartered made a switch to APM as a part of the ramp of Fab 7, in order to be able to increase yields and lower the cost of production.
APM is a process control which consists of more than 450 patented technologies that enable seamless flow of the manufacturing process from ordering the CPUs to finished chips, claims AMD.



And when Chartered Fab7 in Singapore completed the move to APM, the Fab experienced a very fast ramp up and yield increase, AMD spinners reckon. The move ended just in time for the second wave of orders for IBM triple-headed CPUs that power Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming consoles. The CPU had some problems at the very beginning, but today it's as solid as a rock, and manufactured using a 90 nanometre SOI process. The production will eventually move to a 65 nanometre SOI process, and then you can expect 65nm AMD "Made in Singapore" CPUs as well.

Right now, Fab7 produces Xbox 360 CPUs and is ramping up the manufacturing of wafers that contain AMD processors. Given the time for wafer production, you can expect the first AMD chips coming from Fab7 around Computex, in June. AMD reps are still talking about revenue production in the second half of 2006, but you need to take calendar in hand and calculate the time of wafer production. It usually takes from 60 to 90 days from a blank wafer to a completed, packaged and tested product.

If you're interested in hard-boiled data, here's some. Current Fab7 production when it comes to the AMD side is 2,000 wafer starts per month. This translates to around 1.8 to two million dual core dies per quarter, with an expected ramp to 5,000 wafer starts in summer - between 4.3 and 5 million dual core dies.

Xbox 360 CPU production is currently running at 5,000 wafer starts per month, while production of another console processor, IBM's Cell - is expected to come on-line in Q3, with an initial ramp of 5,000 wafer starts per month as well. Overall, Chartered could end up this year with a production of all three of the hottest CPUs out there: Opterons, PowerPC 970FX and Cell. µ

Doh worry crixx I gonna put up an article right after this one, showcasing how Intel is SHOOTING themselves in the foot 

Fuh good measure, here is a link that shows AMD is even thoughtful about the environment... they must be worried those Xeons are overheating the atmostphere LMAO.... :p