NVIDIA Approaching Other Foundries For 28nm Production
With TSMC’s tight supply of 28nm chips, it looks like NVIDIA are now looking for another source of 28nm production. According to Digitimes, industry sources revealed that NVIDIA is already sampling chips on Samsung Electronics’ 28nm process technology. While TSMC may be the only manufacturer that has a contract with NVIDIA at present, that may soon change as TSMC is unlikely to increase 28nm capacity to meet demand until sometime in the first quarter of 2013. With supply of 28nm chips being so tight, other manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, Globalfoundries and United Microelectronics may be able to capitalize on the situation. Should NVIDIA choose to seek out another source of 28nm production, they may be able to pump out more GPUs, especially the highly sought after GeForce GTX 680. However, the impact on temps, power draw, overclocking from switching to another semiconductor manufacturer remains to be seen.
The reported tight supply of chips built using TSMC’s 28nm process technology is likely to drive Nvidia and Qualcomm toward other foundries as a second source, industry sources have revealed. Nvidia has begun sampling its chips on Samsung Electronics’ 28nm process technology, the sources indicated. The GPU vendor contracts only TSMC to manufacture its products at present.
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