AMD is rumoured to be fabricating Ryzen CPUs with both Globalfoundries and Samsung

AMD is rumoured to be fabricating Ryzen CPUs with both Globalfoundries and Samsung

| Source: Bits and Chips Author: Mark Campbell

AMD is rumoured to be fabricating Ryzen CPUs with both Glofo and Samsung

AMD is rumoured to be fabricating Ryzen CPUs with both Globalfoundries and Samsung, leaving many to wonder if CPUs from one foundry will perform or overclock better than CPUs from the other.

Traditionally, Globalfoundries is AMD's primary foundry partner, with the foundry manufacturing AMD's recent Polaris series of GPUs and holding many historical ties to AMD, formerly being the companies manufacturing arm before spinning off in 2009.

Samsung and Globalfoundries utilise very similar processing technologies for 14nm, with Globalfoundries licensing Samsung's 14nm technology. This means that products that are produced with Globalfoundries, allowing designs to be easily transferred between both foundries if required.

AMD has already confirmed that they are able to produce their silicon products at Samsung if required and has recently updated their supply agreement with Globalfoundries to give them more flexibility when it comes to using other Foundry partners.

This all points to a situation where AMD will be manufacturing their products with both Globalfoundries and Samsung, leaving many to question which foundry is better.

In the past, Apple fabricated their A9 chips for their iPhone 6s and 6s Plus with both Samsung 14nm FinFET and TSMC 16nm FinFET, with both chips offering nigh identical performance and notably different levels of power efficiency. While Globalfoundries' 14nm and TSMC's 14nm are very similar processing nodes, there is still a chance that one foundry will produce more efficient chips than the other, adding another factor to consider in the "silicon lottery".

The ability to build hardware with both Samsung and Globalfoundries gives AMD some much-needed versatility, as well as the ability to call on additional foundry space from Samsung if it is required. We already know that AMD is making their Polaris GPUs on the 14nm process, as well as their upcoming Zen CPUs and APUs, so having the ability to call on two foundries for production is a great move on AMD's part.

At this time AMD has not confirmed who will be their manufacturing partner with their Ryzen series of CPUs, only confirming that they will be using a 14nm manufacturing node. Hopefully, we will know soon whether or not this rumour is true, though AMD has certainly opened up this option for themselves.

You can join the discussion on AMD potentially manufacturing their Zen CPUs with both Globalfoundries and Samsung on the OC3D Forums.

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