[Cialug] AMD's Spin Off

[Nathan C. Smith]

>
> What benefit will AMD get from this? All i know is that their
> manufacturing is quite expensive, but design is not so much.
> Does anyone think AMD is eventually just going to outsource
> production to the lowest bidder? I mean, once production is a
> separate company, there is no reason to continue doing
> business with them exclusively or even at all.
>

It is my understanding that building chip fabrication plants is incomprehensibly expensive.  They must be isolated from the ground to prevent vibration, have air and water filtration, use lots of water, produce lots of toxins, and that's all before you get to the expense of the fabricating machinery.  It is also much like computers in the way there is a lot of one-upsmanship, if you aren't building a new plant you are already behind in the chip business.

I don't know how many fabricators are left - Intel is still doing it and I think IBM is too but it won't be long before there are very few choices and companies like VIA, AMD and Transmeta will have to make niche Chips to compete with Intel because Intel or some Chinese company will be all that is left to do the fabrication.  (Did that already happen?)

-Nate