Fabless business model 'stressed out', says analyst
Dylan McGrath, EE Times (09/11/2008 3:27 PM EDT)
SAN FRANCISO -- Nvidia Corp. is not getting the 55-nm capacity it needs from silicon foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), a problem likely to worsen as the graphics chip maker moves to the 40-nm node, according to Doug Freedman, an analyst at American Technology Research.
In a report published Thursday (Sept. 11), Freedman wrote that the "fabless business model seems to be getting stressed out" and that the Nvidia-TSMC relationship "sounds problematic" and "needs to evolve."
In order to minimize its own risk, TSMC is building less capacity as it ramps new technology nodes, according to Freedman. TSMC doesn't get enough visibility from its smaller customers such as Xilinx Inc., Altera Corp. and Broadcom Corp., Freedman wrote, so the foundry cannot take the risk of building new capacity to support larger customers. Nvidia is TSMC's largest customer, he noted.
![]() |
E-mail This Article | ![]() |
![]() |
Printer-Friendly Page |
Related News
- IP business model 'broken,' says exec
- New iPhone Models Become Key to Qualcomm's Top Spot in 3Q20 Revenue Ranking of Global Top 10 IC Design (Fabless) Companies, Says TrendForce
- TSMC Wins All Apple's A10 Chip Business, Report Says
- The #ARM Diaries, Part 1: How ARM's Business Model Works
- Fabless IC Company Sales "Shine" While IDM IC Sales "Slump" in 2012
Breaking News
- JEDEC® and Industry Leaders Collaborate to Release JESD270-4 HBM4 Standard: Advancing Bandwidth, Efficiency, and Capacity for AI and HPC
- BrainChip Gives the Edge to Search and Rescue Operations
- ASML targeted in latest round of US tariffs
- Andes Technology Celebrates 20 Years with New Logo and Headquarters Expansion
- Creonic Unveils Bold Rebrand to Drive Innovation in Communication Technologies
Most Popular
- Cadence to Acquire Arm Artisan Foundation IP Business
- AMD Achieves First TSMC N2 Product Silicon Milestone
- Why Do Hyperscalers Design Their Own CPUs?
- Siemens to accelerate customer time to market with advanced silicon IP through new Alphawave Semi partnership
- New TSN-MACsec IP core for secure data transmission in 5G/6G communication networks