On the heels of Intel announcing breakthroughs in transistor design, Taiwan-based motherboard makers indicated that Intel should be able to increase its technology lead over AMD, and in order not to further endanger its market position, AMD should look to develop innovative solutions instead of competing head to head with Intel.
In the first quarter 2007, Intel plans to increase the production ratio of its 65 nanometer (nm) products to 80% and minimize 90nm products such as the Pentium D 800 series to less than 5%. In the second quarter, Intel is due to phase out its Pentium 4 600 series processors, and the ratio of 65nm products will increase to 90%.
On the other hand, AMD has only recently started to implement a 65nm process on its Athlon 64 X2 processor lineup and the company will not release 65nm-based Athlon 64 or Sempron CPUs until later this year, noted the motherboard makers.
In addition, Intel just announced that it is will use two new materials to build the insulating walls and switching gates of its 45nm transistors, which should help it extend its technology lead over AMD. For its 45nm production, Intel will use a new material with a property called high-k for the transistor gate dielectric, and a new combination of metal materials for the transistor gate electrode. Intel claims that the combination of the high-k gate dielectric with the metal gate for its 45nm process technology provides more than a 20% increase in drive current, or higher transistor performance.
AMD partner IBM made a similar announcement but Intel stated it will begin implementing its new technology this year, while IBM indicated it will not use the high-k technology on 45nm until next year. A Bank of America report noted that IBM provided fewer details than Intel did concerning its high-k developments, drawing some question as to whether IBM can meet its target date for producing chips using the technology. The report also pointed out that Intel usually has 6-18 month lead over AMD in terms of manufacturing technology and that lead should now become bigger.
According to Taiwan motherboard companies, AMD needs to focus on improving its supply situation and, concerning technology development, leverage its relationship with ATI Technologies to quickly bring move innovative solutions to market, including chips integrating CPU+GPU functionality.
David Hng
