Taking the pulse of the FAB tech

AMD FAB36 started production on October 14, 2005, approximately 20,000 12inch wafers have already been processed by now, and we should expect to see a flood of 10 million Athlon 64 in January 2006. Buckle up for the impact.

Meanwhile, Chartered FAB7 has AMD APM system installed and is ready to ramp up. AMD is also starting to choose a site for a new fab.

On semi-conductor technology, AMD+IBM has something that can increase performance by 40% once again, using a bunch of exotic methods. AMD and IBM will use the new methods immediately on current 90nm production and subsequent 65nm production.

INTEL also made some major semi-conductor break through, using a new material called InSb. "The first commercial products based on this technology are not expected until at least 2015".