Originally posted on March 4, 2009 @ 11:54 pm
It really surprised me when I read the news that Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. will be holding a joint press conference next week. What floored me was Intel’s decision to go into partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. TSMC is considered as on of the largest semiconductor foundries in the world and has been manufacturing chips for other companies that do not have their own fabrication plants like nVidia.
At this point no one knows what the partnership will entail. There’s talk that the Atom or one of its other processors may be outsourced to TSMC as it prepares to upgrade all of its fabrications plants over the next two years to the tune of $7 billion. Intel has already closed older manufacturing sites as preparation for this improvement project. There is also talk that intel will leave the production of 200 mm wafer fabrications to TMSC, leaving Intel to concentrate on the leading edge 300 mm wafer production.
I can’t wait for the announcement on Monday.