28nm AMD GPU from GlobalFoundries

At the conference for financial analysts following the announcement of its first quarter results, AMD confirmed in the question/answer session that its first GPU made by GlobalFoundries would be engraved at 28nm. If you look at GlobalFoundries’ roadmap, you can see that HP (High Performance) 28nm production should begin in the period Q4 2010 – Q1 2011. The 32nm SHP (Super High Performance, with SOI) designed for processors is slated one quarter earlier, during the second half of 2010.

It’s difficult to work out exactly what the timing will be as AMD refused to comment. In any case, an end of year start for the next generation of AMD GPU seems a little problematic. Initially, this GPU was supposed to be produced at 32nm by TSMC, but as TSMC has abandoned this process in favour of the 28nm process for which production isn’t planned before the 4th quarter, it seems as if AMD won't be able to count on an end of year launch. It remains to be seen if AMD will wait for the 28nm process from TSMC and/or GlobalFoundries, which is to say beginning 2011 at best, or if it will launch an intermediary generation of GPU at 40nm, as some rumours seem to indicate.