Friday, April 6th 2012
TSMC Faces Acute 28 nm Capacity Shortage
Taiwan's premier semiconductor foundry, TSMC, is reportedly facing an acute shortage in 28 nm manufacturing capacity. This shortage is expected to relax in Q3, 2012, according to sources. Qualcomm, AMD, and NVIDIA are the three biggest patrons of the 28 nm process, Qualcomm uses it to manufacture performance ARM application processors, while AMD and NVIDIA use it for their new generation GPUs. Although launched at the very end of Q4 2011, AMD's HD 7970 shipped a relatively small volume due to low manufacturing capacity. NVIDIA launched only two 28 nm GPUs, the GTX 680, and GT 640M, and has had to delay launch of more models, due to this reason, according to source. Qualcomm, meanwhile, shifted some of its orders to UMC.
Source:
DigiTimes
32 Comments on TSMC Faces Acute 28 nm Capacity Shortage
Better to just run at full capacity with shortages and when the demand slows, still be running at full capacity and not end up with idle equipment.
And Intel serves themselves so they can decide to delay a launch because "there isn't enough competition" ...
IB delayed 3x now.
I see the price increase and chance of low yields as to Nvidia stopping a GK100. If it was a big die, the price increase and the amount yield (because I believe Nvidia buys the entire wafer, not good chips... correct) that would have really impacted their ability to supply what has already kind of turn into a expensive top-shelf product line (there was such a push back on AMD at $550) that Nvidia really knew even with Boost (and components and PCB) to control a GK100 part it was never going into the market for less than $600 and no matter the performance, they might not get a good ROI if thing went right... if they went wrong like this they would've really been up a creek... today. They did the right thing after they heard that TSMC would not be providing the normal encomic’s that most every shrink have provided in past times.
AMD has launched the full 7-series line, Nvidia has launched a couple of chips, but it's being made known that TSMC doesn't have the capacity for Nvidia to release more chips.
As far as I am concerned, TSMC has no problems with 28nm. Just certain partners already bought up all the wafers.Yes, and this is why there is news we must wait until the fall for GF110 from nV, becuase TSMC does not have the capacity to produce more chips to allow nV to ahve stock of this design. This is a good news item for TSMC, that has a bit of bad news for NVidia, and that is all.
I think the Pitcairn is they one the release 2 weeks before intail stock and now no issues. I'd rather see that then dribble what's a drop in the bucket of orginal refererance cards then wait 3... weeks or whatever till AIB bring their higher priced "customs" to market. For Nvidia to drop what probably maybe 1200 in the worldwide market to claim that it's not a "paper launch then cards in two weeks" beats a "soft launch" with no definite stocking dates. :roll:
NV moaned they don't do paper launches but seeing how all 680's on newegg are out of stock, never mind my local shops having a very limited supply of one brand out of three, how is that better than AMD's 7900, 7800 and 7700 being available for purchase, and also calling AMD a paper-launch company.
Anyway... keep insisting on your views but the quote I posted above from the article is saying plain and clear that availability is terrible, which answers the original question: yes, it is lower, and it will continue to be on the low until Q3. This is in line with what Charlie Demerjian posted a while back about TSMC shutting down lines... THIS is exactly what happens if lines are getting shut down, no matter the PR or any denial of such events by TSMC.
i mean its not like there are fabs on every corner under cutting each other as its a hefty investment to build the latest fab tech.
In practice the effects on us are the same and IMO both AMD and Nvidia should have released less GPUs at a time in order to ensure proper availability (and fair prices). Intead they chose to take advantage of the situation and make a bigger profit, rising prices and using the shrtage as an excuse.No.
Regarding "paper launches" both companies do it, they always have and they always will! Get used to it, if you haven't already :o At least this time ATi was able to bring their product to market within a short enough time of announcing it, think it was 2 - 3 week's between announcing & availability, hopefully thing's improve as i'd like to see actual competition instead of what we have now :cool: