14 DAY TRIAL // Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro Devices is said to be facing problems with supplying its latest Radeon graphics processing units to several PC vendors, according to sources in the know as regards the matter. Said supplying issues are reportedly affecting PC vendors that are consequently forced to delay their mass shipment scheduled by about two months to the first quarter of 2010. This recent report is in accordance with several other rumors that have recently surfaced on the Internet, with regard to the GPU shipment issues that AMD has with its latest GPUs.
In a recent news article on Digitimes, citing sources from the affected companies, the world's second largest chip maker, AMD, is said to have problems shipping its latest GPUs to PC vendors, due to a tight supply. One of the main issues is with the company's 40nm ATI Radeon HD 5000 series of GPUs, but the 55nm ATI Radeon HD 4000 one is also said to have been affected.
While the shortage of 40nm HD 5000 GPUs is due to the low yields at the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), AMD is said to be responsible for the problems with the 55nm GPUs. According to said article, the chip maker has had a conservative attitude towards its 55nm GPU sales, after the launch of its 40nm products, which directly affects shipments.
In addition to the shortage of desktop GPUs, AMD is also said to be forced to delay the shipment schedule of its ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 series, codenamed Manhattan, designed for the upcoming wave of portable computer systems. These products were initially scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2009, but have now been delayed to the first quarter of 2010, the sources note.
Despite these reports, AMD says that it “is positioned to supply orders placed by partners to meet consumer demand.” If the reports are correct, AMD is missing out on a great opportunity with its latest 40nm GPUs, especially since NVIDIA is yet to release its next-generation, Fermi-based GeForce graphics cards.