AMD “will have more demand than we have capacity” for 7nm says GlobalFoundries

In a recent report from EE Times, we found an interesting quote from GlobalFoundries’ Chief Technologist Gary Patton, delivering some much-needed insight into AMD’s future.

We already know that AMD is working on 7nm products for both their CPU and GPU lineups, with EE Times claiming that GlobalFoundries is set to tape out their first 7nm processors in 2018. This product is likely to be AMD’s Zen 2, Ryzen 3000 series, product. 

Patton is quoted as stating that “[AMD] will have more demand than we have capacity” for 7nm, with EE Times reporting that GlobalFoundries has made their 7nm pitches and SRAM cells similar to TSMC to let AMD’s design teams use both foundries. 

What this means is that AMD could, in theory, make Zen 2/Ryzen 3rd Generation products using both TSMC and GlobalFoundries, creating a situation where one foundry could produce better CPUs than the other.  One manufacturer could produce higher clocking chips than the other, adding another layer to the “silicon lottery” for buyers. 

While this is an exciting prospect, AMD is already known to have created their 7nm Vega silicon on TSMC’s 7nm process, making it more likely that AMD will be using TSMC on the GPU-side and GlobalFoundries on the CPU side. The question is where AMD will produce their 7nm Ryzen APUs?  This is where the split is likely to occur on the CPU side. 

AMD would only create the same product on both TSMC and GlobalFoundries’ competing manufacturing process if they had no other option. Using TSMC for GPUs will reduce the load on GlobalFoundries’ 7nm manufacturing capabilities significantly, so there is no reason to believe that AMD’s main series Zen 2/Ryzen 3rd Gen processors will be coming from both fabs.