AMD: No comment on TSMC Fab 38 sale rumor
By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- EDN, November 14, 2007
According to one news report, microprocessor maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is in talks to sell its Fab 38 in Dresden, Germany to the world’s leading foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).
In July, AMD got the green light, and a healthy amount of financial support, from European authorities to upgrade its Eastern Germany-based wafer fabs.
The European Commission authorized $361 million (262 million Euros) in aid, which the German authorities intend to grant to AMD for the conversion and extension of its existing micro-processor wafer plants in Dresden, the capital city of the German state of Saxony..
Last year, AMD announced plans to transform the existing 200 mm Fab 30 in Dresden into a 300 mm facility, and rename it Fab 38.
In addition, AMD said it will also expand its Dresden-based Fab 36's existing 300 mm capacity and build a new clean room facility to handle the site's growing bump and test requirements.
The Tech Trader Daily blog on Barron's is quoting investment banking firm Jefferies & Co.’s analyst John Lau, “We had heard this speculation before but those talks were deadlocked on approval by German officials. We now hear that the talks are on again, probably with greater clarity from the German authorities and further review of AMD’s outsourcing strategies.”
Further, the report says Lau believes that AMD’s likely long term path will to outsource most of their wafer manufacturing and while this is not the ideal situation for a microprocessor company, it seems to be the most practical for AMD due to their cash flow issues.
An AMD spokesperson would not comment specifically on the rumors about the fab sale rumor, but did reiterate AMD’s plan of record to convert Fab 38 to an AMD 300 mm fab in 2009. “We do have qualified 300 mm tools in that fab now that are available and ready to support Fab 36 capacity as needed,” the AMD spokesperson noted.
Fab 38, which first began producing silicon in November 1998, is currently winding down 200 mm production, and the conversion has begun to 300 mm, AMD added.
Last week, AMD, Carl Zeiss, Qimonda launched a German nanoanalysis research center to create new analytical and characterization methods required for next-generation chips particularly in the fields of semiconductor analysis and metrology, under the framework of a $17.5 million (12 million euros) nanoanalysis project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
