14 DAY TRIAL // Last month, Advanced Micro Devices revealed that it had started sampling Fusion Llano APUs (accelerated processing units) and that the Ontario family was already well on its way as well. However, even though speculations and reports indicated that Globalfoundries would handle the production of the processors, it was still not completely clear whom AMD would turn to when the actual manufacturing was to commence.
Fusion CPU/GPU hybrids will supposedly have about 90% of the performance of current mainstream CPUs. The Llano, for instance, will have four cores clocked at over 3.0 GHz and an integrated graphics core equivalent to a Radeon HD 5000 Series adapter. This means that the APUs will fully support DirectX 11.
It seems that Globalfoundries isn't going to be making Fusion by itself after all. According to a report published by Digitimes, the foundry is, indeed, producing AMD Fusion APUs using the 32nm SOI technology.
However, AMD is also supposedly considering outsourcing wafer starts to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) using the bulk 40nm process technology. If this proves true, all the related backend services will end up being outsourced to Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL).
After all the issues that TSMC has had with the 40nm process, it would not have been unexpected to come across rumors suggesting that the chip maker was looking for solutions elsewhere. However, it was recently revealed that the foundry was planning a major investment, $1.6 billion to be exact, meant to increase production capacity in Fab 12, Fab 14 and Fab 15. The first two fabs should increase TSMCs production of 300mm wafers to 100,000 a month, whereas Fab 15 will add to 40nm manufacturing capabilities.
Fab 15 will require additional investment before coming online but, when it does, it should finally allow both AMD and NVIDIA to make enough DirectX 11-capable GPUs to appease demand. The OEM system availability of Fusion is currently set for the first half of 2011.