14 DAY TRIAL // Those who thought AMD wasn't doing too great as far as chip supply went will probably not like to hear about how long this situation is going to last, but it looks like it will be a long time before things get better.
People may or may not have spotted a certain article that noted how Advanced Micro Devices was suffering from poor 32nm chip yields.
Basically, the Sunnyvale, California-based company had to lower its revenue forecast because of underwhelming Llano APU supply.
Unfortunately, despite its best efforts, and those of Globalfoundries, there is little chance of the situation recovering in the short term.
In fact, according to a new report from Digitimes, this state of affairs will go on through the fourth quarter as well.
One would expect some sort of rebound, especially with the holiday shopping season around the corner, but this won't happen.
Considering the fact that the shortage began to make itself felt all the way back in July (2011), this is doubly unfortunate for the processing and video product developer.
As it stands, the yield issues will only be overcome when the Trinity series of next-generation APUs (accelerated processing units) is released.
These chips will show up in the first quarter of next year (2012) and boast Radeon HD 7000 graphics.
Of course, AMD declined to comment on unannounced products, as it usually does. Nonetheless, motherboard makers were not as reluctant to disclose the relevant facts, even if they, too, did not give any specific time frames. It is, thus, impossible to know AMD's exact schedule for the Trinity.
AMD already revised its chip fabrication deal with Globalfoundries (in April, 2011), through which it pays for only the working units produced instead of every wafer. Only time will tell if the agreement suffers any more changes.