Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[alan81]

Intels 24 month cycles
Intel has stated in several financial presentations that they will stick with a 24 month process cycle for the next several years.
Here is a link to one of the latest intel presentations that discusses this...
ftp://download.intel.com/research/silicon/Bohr%20IDF%20091603.pdf
I do agree that the cost of each successive generation is higher, and perhaps as much as 2X higher than the previous generation. This will lead to a natural tendency for the time between generations to begin to push out. The ITRS (international technology roadmap group) was beginning to show a push-out, but Intel has vowed to stay the course for the next few generations. It is not clear that the litho suppliers will be able to keep up... we will see.

I think this is one reason Intel does not outwardly show too much concern over the 90nm slip yet... they are still well ahead of the competition.

I do remember a quote from Andy Bryant (Intel CFO) from probably 6 months ago. He said during one of the conference calls that they had a choice between an early 90nm introduction with a slower ramp, or a later introduction with a faster ramp. He said they had chose the faster ramp with a later introduction. I am not sure what trade-offs could generate such a choice, but it is something he said.

I do expect a payoff from the $4B / year Intel R&D budget, and a year lead in new processes is one such expectation.
--Alan