Globalfoundries 14LPP Is On Time For AMD's Zen - Volume Ramp To Start In Early 2022

Globalfoundries communicated the progress of its 14nm plans this past Sat, asserting that its 14LPE FinFET procedure is on rail for volume production this twelvemonth, while its high operation 14LPP is set for qualification in the second one-half of the year with volume ramp gear up to take off early on side by side year.

Globalfoundries 14nm 14LPE 14LPP
A rumor emerged concluding calendar week claiming that AMD had relocated the production of its upcoming Zen based fries from Globalfoundries to TSMC. Which allegedly occurred every bit a result of concerns from the Sunny Vale California based fleck maker over sluggish progress of Gloablfoundries' 14nm FinFET process plans. A setback that was allegedly fueled by a challenging economic climate in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which owns Globalfoundries. We should note that none of these claims were verified or validated, and as such this is all the same very much a rumor.

However, speaking to Wccftech Jason Gorss, Senior Manager, Corporate and Engineering Communications at Globalfoundries affirmed this by Saturday that progress for the company's 14nm FinFET manufacturing is non only on rail but is actually ahead of schedule and 14nm has and so far managed to exceed plans for yield and defect density, stating :

Our 14nm FinFET ramp is exceeding plan with all-time-in-class yield and defect density. The early-access version of the technology (14LPE) was qualified in Jan and is well on its way to volume production, meeting yield targets on pb client products. The operation-enhanced version of the technology (14LPP) is set for qualification in the 2nd one-half of 2022, with the volume ramp beginning in early on 2022. Prototyping on test vehicles has demonstrated fantabulous logic and SRAM yields and functioning at near 100% of target.

14LPP Could Be The Ideal Candidate For AMD's Zen CPUs

14LPE is the early on access "low power" version of the common Samsung/Globalfoudnries 14nm FinFET process. While 14LPP is a 2nd generation, high performance variant that is set to succeed 14LPE. Despite its name, 14LPP should evangelize amend operation too as lower power consumption, the only caveat being its later availability.

14nm FinFET Technology

14LPE – Early on time-to-market version with area and power benefits for mobility applications
14LPP – Enhanced version with higher performance and lower power; a full platform offering with MPW, IP enablement and wide application coverage

Globalfoundries Samsung 14nm FinFET 14LPE 14LPP
I should conspicuously signal out that AMD has refused on multiple occasions to specify where exactly it plans to produce its Zen based products launching next yr. It maintains that these parts will exist produced on "FinFET" but does not provide much detail beyond that. Globalfoundries too doesn't talk nearly specific client products or relationships. And while AMD still does not want to officially commit to any ane item foundry for the production of its hotly anticipated Zen based CPUs, Globalfoundries remains a likely candidate.

Historically, Globalfoundries has been AMD'southward first choice for its CPU and APU products. However we've witnessed AMD contract TSMC for some of its smaller APU fries on occasion, such as its Bobcat and Jaguar - two of AMD'due south small low power cat cores - based mobility APUs in 2022 and 2022. Notably AMD later moved production of these smaller APU parts to Globalfoundries, starting with its Puma based APUs in 2022.

However Globalfoundries was also famously responsible for the delay of AMD's 32nm SOI Llano APUs in 2022 and the belatedly debut of AMD's 32nm SOI based Bulldozer based processors. Management at Globalfoundries has changed since then all the same, and delivering 14nm FinFET on fourth dimension will exist a defining exam for the company going forward.

AMD x86 Zen Core Architecture
14LPP certainly seems like an ideal manufacturing process for AMD's Zen based chips from a technical stand point, just information technology's notwithstanding crucial that 14LPP is delivered on time. It's apparent that AMD's public not-delivery to Globalfoundries over TSMC or vice versa for Zen is one way for the company to hedge its bets. Zen is going to play a major role in deciding AMD's financial hereafter and delivering it to the market place on-fourth dimension is going to exist critical for its success. This is going to be AMD's side by side make-or-break product launch, so it should come up as no surprise that CEO Lisa Su seemingly decided not to take whatsoever chances.