Samsung and Globalfoundries manufacture circuits for AMD at 14 nanometers

After many difficult and loss-making years, AMD may be heading for better times. In 2016, it’s time to introduce the Zen processor architecture, which replaces the Bulldozer and its derivatives, and the Arctic Islands graphics architecture. In both cases, the company speaks of both higher performance and energy efficiency, which is partly attributed to the transition to a new manufacturing technology.

However, AMD has not given any clear information about who will be responsible for the production, but has only stated that it will be a “FinFET” process – 3D transistors, which provide lower current leakage than traditional planes. This circles the alternatives to two, namely 16 nanometers from TSMC and 14 nanometers from Samsung.

South Korean Etnews now reports that Samsung has been commissioned to manufacture both AMD’s next processor architecture (Zen) and graphics architecture (Arctic Islands), the latter of which contradicts previous assumptions that AMD would remain with TSMC, which for many years manufactured all of the company’s graphics chips. .

The report also states that AMD initially planned to manufacture 16 nanometer graphics circuits at TSMC, but that they chose to break the contract. The reason given is a problem with yield of circuits of 28 nanometers and insecure access.

Because Samsung Electronics and GF have (the) same IP for 14-nano processing, chips that are designed by AMD will all be produced at both factories. If products are produced from both factories, AMD won’t have to worry about a problem regarding lack of supplies.

The availability must have been decisive in the choice of Samsung, whose manufacturing technology 14 nanometers is licensed to Globalfoundries, which thus uses identical design rules. This means that AMD has two suppliers to turn to, which is a guarantee if the need for extra manufacturing capacity is added.

The manufacturing technology AMD will use is called 14nm Low Power Plus (14LPP), which comes with improvements in energy efficiency and performance compared to 14nm Low Power Early (14LPE). It is thus a further development of the technology used for the Galaxy S6 circuit Exynos 7420.