It seems that both AMD and TSMC is preparing for the next generation 45nm manufacturing process. AMD will most likely be looking into alternatives to IBM’s high-k 45nm process, while TSMC is trying to advance to the next level. According to the report cited by DigiTimes, there is belief that TSMC will be ready for bulk CPU manufacturing as early as the first quarter of 2008 at a small scale. The production will ramp up and reach a sales significant amount at the end of 2008. It seems that this is the process that will be used for the coming Fusion processor from AMD, a processor that isn’t just a central processor but also a graphical processing unit (GPU). TSMC and its new bulk manufacturing process is expected to play a major role in the next generation of mobile processors.
