AMD Considering Getting Out of Fabrication Business

mytrip writes "2007 has not been kind to AMD, but it's surprising to hear rumours that they might be considering outsourcing chip fabrication. Analysts are predicting that AMD will try to cut costs by moving some fabrication elements out of the company by early next year. 'One Citigroup analyst is predicting a "transformational move" that would result in AMD's lower-end CPUs being manufactured by a third party and possibly selling off part or all of its Dresden, Germany facility. Another report from Goldman Sachs outlines the investment firm's belief that the company will leave manufacturing completely in the hands of third parties.'"

Comments

I hate to say it...

[jhfry]

but this might actually be a "good thing."

Why? Because the main reason that no one but AMD can curretnly compete is because of the hight cost of the fab's... If third party fabs, capable of producing transistors the size that Intel makes, start springing up around the world we will probably see other design companies come out of the woodwork and start producing innovative and competitive chip designs.

If Via, for example, could produce chips in a 65nm fab in reasonable volumes... they might compete for the laptop market.

It may not be the best move for AMD, but for the buying public it should encourage innovation and competition. Which ultimately benefits everyone.

Re:I hate to say it...

[jd]

One CPU manufacturer, one GPU manufacturer... This is in no way a good thing. With ATI being bought out, the market has lost TWO major vendors, not one. Worse, Intel has dumped their network processor, Transmeta is dead, Freescale is practically dead, rival chips are dead or dying, Intel is reducing their diversity, are losing their knowledge-base and only change when competitors get close.

We need more competition, not less. If there was ever a time when subsidies were a good idea, this would be it.