Fabless business model 'stressed out', says analyst

Nvidia reportedly not getting enough 55-nm capacity from TSMC

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.

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