Written by Nicolas Gridelet
Published on May 15, 2008

URL: http://www.behardware.com/news/lire/15-05-2008/#9648

Even if the construction of the FAB 4x has not yet started and ground should be broken this spring, AMD has declared that they don’t have a "plan B" and the investment will be made.

This factory intended for 300mm should be built in the Luther Forest Technology Campus in the state of New York. The latter has already contributed $650 million to the company ($500 million for construction and $150 million in R&D subsidies), a fiscal gift of $250 million is forthcoming, and including the investment that should be added by public authorities, the total should attain $1.2 billion. The creator of the Athlon, however, should concretize its plans before the end of 2009.

The delay is partly explained for by their new "asset-smart" type strategy which will precisely enable reducing such investment in production capacity by sub-contracting out more in this domain (an agreement of this type with Chartered Semiconductor has existed for some time). However, we can also expect the chips of others besides AMD to come off their production lines. The main question here will be to whom the production lines will belong and what will be the percentage of ownership.

Up until now, it was announced that the FAB 4x could be operational in 2010 and would enable AMD to increase 2008 production capacity by 50%; however, the situation is now not that simple. Nevertheless, one thing is sure, the Sunnyvale company should not wait too long to clearly reveal its intentions and the strategy for getting back on track.