AMD/IBM Alliance has benefits for both IBM and AMD. Consider the moneys that AMD would have to expend to create an area that would be comparable to the 300 mm IBM fab. Three or four years ago, AMD considered building an addition to the SDC in Sunnyvale for 300 mm and 90 nm or less development -- my recollection was that at least 150 to 200 million would have been required just for the building plus additional for equipment and time. This suggests that the 280 or so millions might be a bargin for AMD.
On the downside is that the transistor structures may not be optimized for the battle with Intel. That was one of the problems with the development of HiP8 (I believe). AMD had to make them hotter that Motorola required. However, AMD probably saved time by working with Motorola. The same alliance allowed AMD to acquire one of the better copper interconnect technologies.
Additionally, consider that IBM does use other companies for their benefit. In my experience, I saw IBM use both TI and Signetics when it benefited IBM.
Cheers,
Phergy
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