AMD's Fab 36 Grand Opening - 90nm and 300mm in Germany
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 14, 2005 7:50 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
AMD Draws a Crowd: German Chancellor Schröder Arrives
After the initial press conference we took a short bus ride to an outside tent where both Dr. Deppe and Dr. Ruiz gave a few words about Dresden and Fab 36, before handing the mic off to German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
One point to note was the constant mentioning of "fair competition" in all of Dr. Ruiz speeches, obviously referring to AMD's recent lawsuit against Intel. Dr. Ruiz also mentioned AMD's 50-by-15 goal; that by 2015, 50% of the world will be "connected", partially in thanks to an increase in production of AMD's products. Intel has also outlined their plans for 2015, which we've covered in the past.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder
Chancellor Schröder also made it a point to mention the importance of such a large investment in Dresden, being a part of former East Germany, while stressing that the incoming German government should make it a point to encourage similar investments in the future.
Chancellor Schröder also briefly touched on the topic of fair competition and how Germany's cooperation with AMD has been in the spirit of fair competition, also clearly in reference to AMD's recent lawsuit.
Governer of Saxony, Professor Dr. Georg Milbradt
Dresden is located in the German state of Saxony, and next up was the Governer of the State of Saxony, Professor Dr. Georg Milbradt. Professor Milbradt spoke of the history of Saxony from its humble beginnings to being a center for semiconductor manufacturing thanks to companies like AMD and Siemens.
Professor Milbradt's speech also took a political tone, as he stressed the importance of the new federal government to do even more to encourage investments such as AMD's in Dresden. He stressed that the investments are necessary in order to make Saxony and Dresden competitive in the EU and in the world.
Both Milbradt and Schröder hinted that AMD should definitely consider Dresden for their next fab plant, which Dr. Ruiz mentioned could potentially begin construction as early as 2008.
More 300mm wafers, we counted at least 5 today, that should be enough for at least a few Athlon 64 X2s.
The speeches were concluded with a ceremonial "raising of the wafer" as a 300mm wafer rose from the stage and was presented to Dresden, the state of Saxony and Dresden.
The events at Fab 36 in Dresden are just beginning, we're about to head to a Q&A session followed by some technical tracks and tours of the new plant.
AMD is hopefully going to present us with their future plans later today, which we've been looking forward to ever since Intel's IDF announcements. We'll see if AMD can deliver a more interesting look at their future than the ambiguity that we've been given in the past; stay tuned.
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Kalessian - Friday, October 14, 2005 - link
I'm sure AMD thought long and hard about making this fab 65nm right from the start. I'm not an advising panel of experts, so I don't know anyone who is. So 90nm must be better than 65nm for AMD right now. Thus, whatever is better for AMD is better for all of us.I really hope that this fab puts AMD on the map. I want to see AMD processors in my local computer stores and in Dell/HP/Gateway TV ads. I can't wait to see the outcome.
And next year we'll have 65nm K8's. Are there any plans for the next generation of AMD cores? What would 65nm bring, 3.2ghz speeds?
Questar - Friday, October 14, 2005 - link
"Thus, whatever is better for AMD is better for all of us"No. Whatever is better for AMD is better for AMD. They do not care what is better for you. They exist for one reason only, generate maximum profit for shareholders. If this happens by coincidence to benefit you, them so be it. But never think AMD is concerned about your interests at all.
Xenoterranos - Friday, October 14, 2005 - link
Really, to say AMD cares nothing about it's consumers is ludacris. AMD practivally led the overclocking movement, making it widely known how to overclock there procs. The FX line is even completely unlocked from the get-go! AMD cares more than Intel does about it's customers, if they didn't they'd be in another buisness, one where it's much easier to make money.overclockingoodness - Friday, October 14, 2005 - link
Actually, I disagree with you. The only reason AMD cares about its customers (and overclocking) is because it wants to sell more CPUs. If AMD was as big as Intel, they would have a completely different philosophy (similar to Intel). I agree with the poster who said companies only care about profits and that's true. Making you believe that a company cares for you is a clever marketing ploy that's apparently working out for them. Wait another few years and you'll see how AMD's stance changes against its customers.Why exactly would they be in a different business? AMD is known for CPUs, you can't revamp the entire company and move to a completely different sector overnight (or ever in that case).
Kalessian - Friday, October 14, 2005 - link
First off, I left out a sentence or two in my first comment. Sorry for the confusion.Blah blah none of us can say what's best for AMD because none of us are qualified for it. Then I meant to say something about how fierce competition is better for all of us. Since AMD is the smaller company, as long as it does well it's actually fighting for the stability of competition. Thus, whatever is good for AMD is good for us.
My argument is based on AMD being the smaller company. Obviously, what's good for Intel is probably bad for us (Intel owns 99% of market and it stagnates).
Anyway, in a totally nonrelated argument, I don't think it matters what the intentions of a company are. Whether it is sincerely concerned about consumers or contractually concerned about them, it doesn't make much of a difference in the short-term.
overclockingoodness - Saturday, October 15, 2005 - link
Yeah, sure AMD is fighting for the stability of competition, but for how long? As soon as AMD is anywhere close to Intel's market share (around the 50-50 mark), it'll be exactly like Intel. Look at AMD now, they aren't doing any major architectural improvements to get ready for the future because A64 is so superior. Even though Intel has been behind AMD ever since the launch of A64, it's not going to stay that way for long. Intel is starting to push the same things as AMD, but if AMD doesn't improve, Intel will take the lead (of course, that's bound to happen with every product launch).You are right, it doesn't matter, but some people don't understand that. Half of them are just supporting AMD (in the lawsuit and otherwise) because they think AMD is a "their" company (a company that supports its customers), but they are forgeting the fundamental rule of business. In business, the first and foremost thing is profits and how will those come? From customer's pockets. I think we are already seeing an example with expensive dual-core AMD CPUs compared to Intel's offerings; it's only going to get worse in the long run. Half of these people put so much faith in these companies, but ultimately, they don't care about you. And that's when they realize that every company operates exactly the same way. A company (at least as big as AMD) that supports its customers either won't be in the business for too long and is completely stupid to begin with.
You mean it doesn't matter in the long-term...
overclockingoodness - Saturday, October 15, 2005 - link
Okay, that came out wrong. What I meant to say was that whether its Intel vs. AMD or ATI vs. NVIDIA, companies will try to do each other and get the top crown with each product launch. Sometimes it'll be Intel while other times it'll be AMD.
Griswold - Friday, October 14, 2005 - link
No, its not that simple. They arent going to maximize anything but their loss if what they do is not good for the individual. So, the most important thing for a company in AMD's position is: make the customers happy or else you wont sell shit.That said, we desktop monkeys are not the be all and end all of AMD's target markets anymore. That would be servers and mobile.
trooper11 - Friday, October 14, 2005 - link
actually thats not very true.if amd didnt address at least some of our 'interests' then they wouldnt be very succesful. they have been fighting an uphill battle form the start, and one thing that has kept them aflaot is trying cater to intersts of the enthusiast market, and now the server market as they expand.
sure they want to make a profit. but you dont make a product without at least considering those intersts of your customers.
Viditor - Friday, October 14, 2005 - link
Actually, he said "Thus, whatever is better for AMD is better for all of us" which means that a successful AMD is better for us consumers...nothing said about AMD's intentions or feelings. I happen to think he's correct in that having 2 equally balanced semiconductor companies competing for our business is much better all around.
When/if AMD hits 50% marketshare, I think we all will be better off.