[Dave Baumann]

DigiTimes is reporting that TSMC's yield rates have increased to over 70% now. This can be seen as an encouraging sign for NVIDIA as their high end GeForce FX is based on this process, as will the rest of then NV3x line be. The move will also signal increased interest from other parties, such as ATI, as this will begin to tip the die-per-wafer vs yield cost balance in favour of the .13um process.

"TSMC has vigorously expanded production at Fab 6 since 2001 from a monthly capacity of 5,000 wafers to the current 15,000 to 20,000 wafers. Besides Motorola's DSPs, Qualcomm has chips in 0.13-micron volume production and Nvidia's NV30 graphics chip has begun small-volume test production at Fab 6."

The mention of a small production run could indicate that a new revision of the NV30 chip has been complete and they are assessing if its production worthy silicon. Hopefully this test batch will be finding their way towards reviewers soon (hint, hint NVIDIA!).

Read the full report here

[Evildeus]

Originally Posted by DaveBaumann

Hopefully this test batch will be finding their way towards reviewers soon (hint, hint!).

8) When?

[Dave Baumann]

That wasn't a hint to readers, it was a hint to NVIDIA!

[Evildeus]

Originally Posted by DaveBaumann

That wasn't a hint to readers, it was a hint to NVIDIA!

Oups my bad (and yours :P )

[Pete]

Yields, too.

[WaltC]

I sort of think that "beginning small volume test production" puts the schedule a bit behind where I thought it would be at this time for nv30. I would have thought they'd have passed this stage prior to the product's introduction at Comdex (why is this reminding me more and more of the V5 launch?) It's a cinch they really have no idea what kind of yields to expect from nv30 (since the 70% yield numbers obviously relate to chips other than nv30--for instance Intel is doing great guns with .09 micron for flash memory--but that says nothing about doing Prescott at .09.) If the card does ship in late February, it could well be in no more than token numbers, with actual volume shipment coming in the March-April time frame--assuming there are no other setbacks.

There's a pretty good reason nVidia was showing these things in sealed boxes at the Comdex intro and not loaning any out to reviewers at the time, so it might be sometime before reviewers will get their grubby little mitts on the kind of card nVidia wants publicized. If this doesn't sound charitable, I apologize.

(I really am having V5 Deja Vu here in more ways than one...it's almost eerie.)

Originally Posted by WaltC

(I really am having V5 Deja Vu here in more ways than one...it's almost eerie.)

Yeah eerie indeed I got that same feeling........