They are already in talks with GlobalFoundries and Samsung

Apr 24, 2012 06:42 GMT  ·  By

Nvidia appears to be a strong believer in the fact that the time for change has come.  Just like Intel started manufacturing the failed Pentium 4 processors on 300mm wafers 11 years ago, Nvidia is contemplating a move to 450 mm wafers.

Back in the day, Intel was among the first FAB owners to start migrating towards 300 mm wafers. The move was a very profitable one, as on a 300 mm wafer one could fit 30 to 40% more CPU dies, resulting in a considerable cost reduction.

Don’t forget, moving a FAB or more FABs from 200 mm to 300 mm wafers had a very high cost for Intel. AMD did this move much later in their new Dresden FAB. But the reduction in production costs per chip and the increase in yields per wafer were worth every dollar invested.

The thing is that, the bigger your chip die is, the more of the wafer goes unused. The cost for a processed 300mm wafer is not that high for Tegra 2 chips, for example. At the edge of the wafer, there is wasted wafer are but not that much as it would be with GK 104 chips.

A Tegra 2 die has a die size of 49 square millimeters while the GK 104 measures 294 square millimeters.

While trying to fit as many Tegra 2 dies on a 300 mm wafer, you’ll find that a significant percentage of the wafer’s edge goes unused, but you do the same with GK 104 dies and there is a much bigger wafer area that goes to waste.

Adding the fact that there is a much bigger loss if a GK 104 die is faulty, the combination of big and complex chips with likely low yields and small wafers is a losing one.

A move to 450 mm wafers would allow around 40% to 55% more GK104 dies to fit on a wafer.

Considering the fact that Nvidia, and the rest of TSMC’s clients, are paying for every wafer processed, not just for the working chips, it’s clear why Nvidia are running for the hills, away from the 300 mm wafers.

Nvidia has been in contact with GlobalFoundries and has already received samples from SAMSUNG’s Texas FAB.

The GPU company would probably go for IBM or UMC, if any of these FABs made them chips using 450 mm wafers.