AMD may outsource CPU manufacturing to Tsmc
AMD may be outsourcing production of Fusion processors to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company this year. The chip baker has had broad outsourcing plans for some time to be able to make a profit again.
Rumors that more production will be outsourced have been circulating since the middle of last year – as well as that a partnership with Tsmc is in the pipeline. Last month these became stronger again with the announcement that the chip company wants to fire ten percent of its staff. AMD would like to steadily shift the emphasis from production to design.
Tsmc is said to have recently begun testing its production line so that it can secure an order for production of AMD Fusion processors, sources told Digitimes. This multifunctional hybrid chip, which houses several GPU and CPU cores, should make its appearance in notebooks in the second half of 2009.
Production of AMD CPUs should have started in the second half of this year. Whether a decision has already been made whether Tsmc will become the definitive partner to bake Fusion chips is unknown. There are also no concrete indications about other manufacturing partners with whom the company is in talks, but in addition to Tsmc, Chartered and IBM have already been mentioned as possible candidates.
It is also not known whether the outsourcing is the prelude to the divestment of AMD production facilities. However, it is almost certain that such a reorganization, however far it goes exactly, should help the chip company to become profitable again next year. A possibility that is buzzing on Wall Street speculated is that AMD will split into two companies, one of which will be responsible for design and the other for production. The latter would then have to go largely through manufacturing partners such as Tsmc, as AMD is expected to want to reduce its assets – the so-called asset light business model – to reduce financial risks.