AMD officially cancels 20nm chips and takes a $33 million charge

[Bouzoo]

AMD won't be building on 20nm chips from TSMC but will focus on development with various FinFET technologies. AMD CEO LIsa Su said that they think it will give them more bang for the buck (I never thought I'd hear a CEO say that).

 

“I the past I talked about 20nm node that we did some designs on,” said Lisa Su, chief executive officer AMD at the company’s financial analyst day. “We have started some initial designs, we have run some silicon, but those parts are probably not going to go into production because we think we can get much more bang for the buck out of FinFET technologies going forward.”

 

They are aware it will bring them a one time charge of ~$33 million, which is basically writing of money for chips that will never go into production as they say. 

In its update for investors issued earlier this week AMD said that it would take “a one-time charge of approximately $33 million associated with a technology node transition from 20nm to FinFET.” In particular, the company will write off money it spent on design and tape-out(s) of chip(s) that will never go into production.

“We decided to take a product that was moving through 20nm and instead take it to FinFET,” said Drew Prairie, a corporate communications spokesman for AMD. The representative added that these were not necessarily design(s) that the company had previously publicly disclosed.

 

If they are going straight to 14nm or 16 nm and it works out that's fine, but that means they won't have anything new for some time. They really are skipping to speed things up. I hope everything turns out for the best.

 

Source

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mod edit, alpenwasser

Since anything related to AMD/NV/Intel is always a good candidate for emotions running high

for some mysterious reason: Anyone starts slinging crap:

(yes, I really love that pic, I'm going to keep using it )

Edited July 8, 2015 by alpenwasser

[Guest]

How are they going to defeat Intel?

[samcool55]

Well everyone makes mistakes.

And if the CEO decides that they need to go straight to a smaller node, well i think that's a good thing. You can't stick with old stuff right?

[Bsmith]

time will teach us how it works out for them, until then i keep watching them

[1Scotty1]

And AMD just keeps on digging..

[samcool55]

How are they going to defeat Intel?

ZEN is at 14nm, 20nm was probably designed mainly for gpu's, not for cpu's.

[Bogica]

They are taking their time and it's the one thing they don't have. I really hope this is the right decision.

[austrianguy69]

ZEN is at 14nm, 20nm was probably designed mainly for gpu's, not for cpu's.

I bet they are barely any faster than their current low end FX 83xx cpus

[Eroda]

- snip -

 

not sure why they should pay, was TSMC paying AMD and Nvidia for not delivering 20NM on scedule?

Edited July 8, 2015 by alpenwasser
snipped reference to hidden post

[Maslofski]

as ive the waiting times for nw products wasnt big enough already

[Techhog]

Does this mean that the new architecture for the 400 series will be on 28nm, or that there simply won't be any new cards until 2017?

[samcool55]

I bet they are barely any faster than their current low end FX 83xx cpus

That would be horrible, because that would mean intel is still king and the development will stay being as slow as it is...

If zen destroys their current cpu's and even beat intel cpu's. That would be great, and that's what we all need. It will give intel the slap they need to increase performance again like they used to do. It would start a cpu war again and in the end, we all benefit from that.

[RedSphyxis]

How are they going to defeat Intel?

when they finally get to the corner of NE and VER

[thekeemo]

Does this mean that the new architecture for the 400 series will be on 28nm, or that there simply won't be any new cards until 2017?

2017 would be reasonable a 2 year cycle isnt bad

[vm'N]

ZEN is at 14nm, 20nm was probably designed mainly for gpu's, not for cpu's.

I think this was in regards to some low power SoC (nolan and amur).

20nm was not really anything worthwhile for dGPU and are instead targeting 14/16nm

 

- snip -

 

not sure why they should pay, was TSMC paying AMD and Nvidia for not delivering 20NM on scedule?

Because, AMD and Nvidia are also investing in it. These partnerships have work done on both sides. Edited July 8, 2015 by alpenwasser
removed reference to hidden post in quote

[Misanthrope]

This probably adds to the reasons why Zen is scheduled for 2016 at least, they probably decided this for a while but only now made it public.

[alpenwasser]

Hey, an AMD thread! Let's see if we can have a mature discussion about that for a change, or else:

(also added note to OP)

[Techhog]

2017 would be reasonable a 2 year cycle isnt bad

Except that it's a 4-6 year cycle for some chips. It would be suicide. They'll be a 10% marketshare and on the verge of bankruptcy by then if they wait that long.

 

Ugh. I guess the Nvidia and Intel monopolies are inevitable...

[Trik'Stari]

What is AMD even actually doing?

[thekeemo]

Except that it's a 4-6 year cycle for some chips. It would be suicide. They'll be a 10% marketshare and on the verge of bankruptcy by then if they wait that long.

 

Ugh. I guess the Nvidia and Intel monopolies are inevitable...

I dont think it matters if the chips still beat out the competition.. if a 20 year old gpu beats out a brand new one the old one is still better not to mention they rebranded the 265 and 285 in the 3xx series which arent 7XXX rebrands and they still wreck nvidia face... at the price points currently amd gpus are a btter value all the way up to the fury x (up to as in not including)

[Techhog]

I dont think it matters if the chips still beat out the competition.. if a 20 year old gpu beats out a brand new one the old one is still better not to mention they rebranded the 265 and 285 which arent 7XXX rebrands

7850 = 265 = 370

7790 = 260 = 360

[escape093]

Title: AMD officially cancels 20nm chips and takes a $33 million charge

 

Article: AMD moves 20nm chips to FinFET and takes a $33 million charge

 

[othertomperson]

Except that it's a 4-6 year cycle for some chips. It would be suicide. 

 

This is a problem. The 370 and the 380 are newish but the 390 and 390X are already approaching two years old now. They are going to be four or five years old by the time they are replaced this is is true. It's even worse if this is referring to Zen, which I really hope it isn't.

 

We'll see. I really want AMD to look like a viable option when I come to move over from X79.

 

 

I dont think it matters if the chips still beat out the competition.. if a 20 year old gpu beats out a brand new one the old one is still better not to mention they rebranded the 265 and 285 in the 3xx series which arent 7XXX rebrands and they still wreck nvidia face... at the price points currently amd gpus are a btter value all the way up to the fury x (up to as in not including)

 

The problem with those cards is that they don't even beat AMD last gen. The 370 is beaten by a 270 and the 380 would be ok if the 280X didn't exist.

 

Did anyone ever even recommend the 265 or 285 last generation? I saw plenty of people recommending 260X instead of 750 Ti (I was among them) and lots of people pitted the 960 straight up against the 280X. The 285 didn't make an awful lot of sense, for the same reason the 960 didn't. The 380 does nothing but justify the 960's existence which is odd.

[ozziestig]

Does anyone know what Zen is?

[thekeemo]

7850 = 265 = 370

7790 = 260 = 360

I stand corrected about the 265 BUT the 285 isnt a rebrand and I doubt the 260/265 is coming back