If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
TSMC gets contract to manufacture Xbox 2 GPU
TSMC will get the job of manufacturing the ATI-designed graphics processor
for Xbox 2, aka Xbox Next, aka Xenon. __________________________________________________ ___________________ http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/5630/T...e-Xbox-2-Chips __________________________________________________ ___________________ TSMC To Manufacture Xbox 2 Chips By: César A. Berardini - "Cesar" Apr. 6th, 2004 06:00 am Microsoft Corporation and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have reached an agreement for TSMC to provide semiconductor manufacturing services for "Microsoft's future Xbox products". The breakthrough agreement expands an ongoing relationship between the two companies by providing Microsoft with direct, collaborative access to TSMC's advanced semiconductor process technologies. "TSMC has consistently demonstrated industry leadership in the development and deployment of highly advanced semiconductor process technologies for high-volume manufacturing," said Todd Holmdahl, Xbox General Manager of Microsoft Corporation. "It was this solid record of achievement that led us to work directly with TSMC on semiconductors targeted to our future game consoles products." Founded in 1987, TSMC is the largest semiconductor foundry in the world, specializing in manufacturing semiconductors for its customers in a wide variety of end markets. Its foundry services also include a broad range of silicon-proven intellectual property cores and tight integration with leading electronic design automation (EDA) design tools that allow chip designers to achieve faster time-to-volume. "Microsoft's future Xbox products and services will require leading-edge semiconductor technologies," said Dr. Rick Tsai, president of TSMC. "This agreement underscores the importance of a partnership between the two companies to identify the best technology platforms for Microsoft's future products. We look forward to a long and productive collaboration with Microsoft." What All This Means Microsoft Corp. has licensed so far microchip technology from IBM Corp. and ATI Technologies Inc with SiS selected as the chipset contractor. Today's announcement regarding the partnership with TSMC does no other thing but confirm that Microsoft is becoming a "fabless" company, a term used to describe those companies who design their chips but have another company to build them. Both Microsoft's deals with IBM and ATI are similar to those both companies already have with Sony and Nintendo, respectively. IBM & ATI provide customized technology for the Xbox successor and, in exchange, they will receive royalties. That's different from today's model where nVIDIA's Xbox revenues comes from selling chips to Microsoft. __________________________________________________ __________________________ ___ __________________________________________________ __________________________ ___ http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=15200 Microsoft, TSMC to collaborate on Xbox 2 Put a SOC in it By INQUIRER staff: Tuesday 06 April 2004, 12:57 CHIP FOUNDRY TSMC and Microsoft issued a statement today saying they will collaborate on future Xbox technology. Although the two companies were slim on details of the deal, the move will give Microsoft access to TSMC's Nexsys technology for systems on a chip (SOC). Microsoft, said TSMC, "will be given direct collaborative access" to its process technology. No financial details were given. Nexsys, however, is TSMC's 90 nanometre proces technology, which offers a triple gate oxide feature, and which it claims will allow it to establish the SOC technology standard. µ __________________________________________________ ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___________________ http://www.adr.com/adr?page=adrnews&...date= 2004040 6&mseq=4981669 UPDATE 1-Taiwan's TSMC to make chips for Microsoft Xbox (REUTERS) Updated: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 06:23AM ET UPDATE 1-Taiwan's TSMC to make chips for Microsoft Xbox (Adds details) TAIPEI, April 6 (Reuters) - TSMC 2330.TW, the world's largest contract maker of semiconductors, will make chips for future Microsoft Xbox game consoles, the two companies said on Tuesday. The agreement expands an existing relationship and allows Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to directly provide Microsoft with the most advanced semiconductor process technologies, they said in a joint statement. No other details were immediately available. TSMC now has a contract to make graphics chips for the second generation of Xbox game consoles through Canada's ATI Technologies Inc , the world's second-largest graphics chip maker. Microsoft signed that deal with ATI, which outsourced manufacturing to TSMC. The next generation of Xbox is set for release late in 2005. The latest agreement was signed directly by Microsoft and the Taiwan company, said TSMC spokesman Tzeng Jinn-haw. He declined to give a dollar value for the contract. The announcement came after the close of Taiwan trade on Tuesday. The Taipei-traded shares of TSMC, which is one-fifth-owned by the Netherlands' Philips Electronics N.V. ended flat at T$62.0 each. Last month, Microsoft lowered the price of the Xbox to $149.99 from $179.99, a move seen as a change in strategy. Microsoft previously cut the Xbox price only after similar cuts from industry leader Sony Corp 6758.T on the PlayStation 2. ATI focuses on designing chips used to compute complex three-dimensional graphics for computer games, but outsources the actual microchip production to companies like TSMC. __________________________________________________ _______________________ __________________________________________________ _______________________ http://www.tsmc.com.tw/tsmcdotcom/PR...n=detail&LANG= E&newsid=1500&newsdate=2004/04/06 TSMC to Supply Products and Services for Future Microsoft Game Consoles Manufacturing Pact Gives Microsoft Access to Advanced Nexsys(SM) Technology for SoC Issued by: Microsoft Corporation and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Issued on: 2004/04/06 Hsin-Chu, Taiwan - April 6, 2004 - Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM) have reached an agreement for TSMC to provide semiconductor manufacturing services for Microsoft's future Xbox products. The breakthrough agreement expands an ongoing relationship between the two companies by providing Microsoft with direct, collaborative access to TSMC's advanced semiconductor process technologies. "TSMC has consistently demonstrated industry leadership in the development and deployment of highly advanced semiconductor process technologies for high-volume manufacturing," said Todd Holmdahl, Xbox General Manager of Microsoft Corporation. "It was this solid record of achievement that led us to work directly with TSMC on semiconductors targeted to our future game consoles products." Founded in 1987, TSMC is the largest semiconductor foundry in the world, specializing in manufacturing semiconductors for its customers in a wide variety of end markets. Its foundry services also include a broad range of silicon-proven intellectual property cores and tight integration with leading electronic design automation (EDA) design tools that allow chip designers to achieve faster time-to-volume. "Microsoft's future Xbox products and services will require leading-edge semiconductor technologies," said Dr. Rick Tsai, president of TSMC. "This agreement underscores the importance of a partnership between the two companies to identify the best technology platforms for Microsoft's future products. We look forward to a long and productive collaboration with Microsoft." __________________________________________________ _________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________ http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...=7&u=/nm/20040 406/tc_nm/tech_taiwan_tsmc_dc Taiwan's TSMC to Make Chips for Microsoft Xbox 2 hours, 42 minutes ago Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo! TAIPEI (Reuters) - TSMC (2330.TW), the world's largest contract maker of semiconductors, will make chips for future Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) Xbox (news - web sites) game consoles, the two companies said on Tuesday. The agreement expands an existing relationship and allows Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (NYSE:TSM - news) to directly provide Microsoft with the most advanced semiconductor process technologies, they said in a joint statement. No other details were immediately available. TSMC now has a contract to make graphics chips for the second generation of Xbox game consoles through Canada's ATI Technologies Inc (Toronto:ATY.TO - news), the world's second-largest graphics chip maker. Microsoft signed that deal with ATI, which outsourced manufacturing to TSMC. The next generation of Xbox is set for release late in 2005. The latest agreement was signed directly by Microsoft and the Taiwan company, said TSMC spokesman Tzeng Jinn-haw. He declined to give a dollar value for the contract. The announcement came after the close of Taiwan trade on Tuesday. The Taipei-traded shares of TSMC, which is one-fifth-owned by the Netherlands' Philips Electronics N.V. (PHG.AS) ended flat at T$62.0 each. Last month, Microsoft lowered the price of the Xbox to $149.99 from $179.99, a move seen as a change in strategy. Microsoft previously cut the Xbox price only after similar cuts from industry leader Sony Corp (news - web sites) (6758.T) on the PlayStation 2 (news - web sites). ATI focuses on designing chips used to compute complex three-dimensional graphics for computer games, but outsources the actual microchip production to companies like TSMC. (US$=T$33.0) |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 01:36:27 -0500, R420 wrote:
TSMC will get the job of manufacturing the ATI-designed graphics processor for Xbox 2, aka Xbox Next, aka Xenon. Sounds good for ATI but you have to remember that it was because of Nvidia's devotion of resources to Xbox 1 that they dropped the ball on their consumer PC graphics cards, something that Nvidia are only just recovering from. That is probably why Nvidia weren't so keen on playing the Xbox 2 gig. High volume but very low margin, Xbox 2 is only worth bragging rights for whoever makes the GPU, and NV have long since realised that it's not worth it, especially dealing with MS who attempted to bleed them dry over the pricing. K |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
"K" wrote in message news On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 01:36:27 -0500, R420 wrote: TSMC will get the job of manufacturing the ATI-designed graphics processor for Xbox 2, aka Xbox Next, aka Xenon. Sounds good for ATI but you have to remember that it was because of Nvidia's devotion of resources to Xbox 1 that they dropped the ball on their consumer PC graphics cards, something that Nvidia are only just recovering from. That is probably why Nvidia weren't so keen on playing the Xbox 2 gig. High volume but very low margin, Xbox 2 is only worth bragging rights for whoever makes the GPU, and NV have long since realised that it's not worth it, especially dealing with MS who attempted to bleed them dry over the pricing. Simply untrue. The problems with the FX series of GPUs had absolutely nothing to do with the Xbox project. The major work on those chips didn't even begin until after the XGPU was in production. There was an entire generation of NVIDIA GPU's, GeForce4, that came directly on the heels of the XGPU and are largely improved PC versions of that part with additional features. Likewise the other major IC in the Xbox supplied by NVIDIA is almost entirely encompassed by the equivalent part in their Nforce chipset for PC motherboards. There is nothing in the Xbox that wasn't part of NVIDIA's existing path. NVIDIA's complaint was solely about sales. The failure of the Xbox to sell in much greater numbers than it did and Microsoft's continuing attempts to negotiate lower prices for the chips, reducing the potential profit still more. If the early volumes had been there would have been little problem and continuing investment for a cost reducing die shrink would have been justified. This would have advantages beyond the cost of the chips themselves since the reduce power draw and heat would allow for a revisions to the rest of the Xbox to reduce cost and size thus making the product attractive to a wider audience. The FX series of GPUs represent a massive increase in complexity and transistor counts over the GeForce4. NVIDIA tried to mitigate the resulting issues by moving to a smaller manufacturing process level but found that combining that transition with the difficulties already presented by the DirectX 9 class technology only made matters worse. ATI avoided this by sticking with their current dependable process and living with a monster die size. Another factor was that NVIDIA chose to include some higher-end features that had little bearing on the consumer market. This gave them and edge in their version of the chip targeting the engineering and workstation markets but also increased the transistor count. ATI chose to favor the consumer market and had a design that was manageable, albeit on the bulky side. They saved the inevitable transition to a smaller process level until after they'd gotten dependable yields on this class of chip from the current manufacturing process. ATI is not oblivious to what happened between Microsoft and NVIDIA. You can be sure those issue loomed large in the negotiations for the Xbox-2 parts. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Will the chips be made in TSMC's new plant in the US?
|
#5
|
|||
|
|||
"Eric Pobirs" wrote in message .com...
"K" wrote in message news On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 01:36:27 -0500, R420 wrote: TSMC will get the job of manufacturing the ATI-designed graphics processor for Xbox 2, aka Xbox Next, aka Xenon. Sounds good for ATI but you have to remember that it was because of Nvidia's devotion of resources to Xbox 1 that they dropped the ball on their consumer PC graphics cards, something that Nvidia are only just recovering from. That is probably why Nvidia weren't so keen on playing the Xbox 2 gig. High volume but very low margin, Xbox 2 is only worth bragging rights for whoever makes the GPU, and NV have long since realised that it's not worth it, especially dealing with MS who attempted to bleed them dry over the pricing. Simply untrue. The problems with the FX series of GPUs had absolutely nothing to do with the Xbox project. The major work on those chips didn't even begin until after the XGPU was in production. There was an entire generation of NVIDIA GPU's, GeForce4, that came directly on the heels of the XGPU and are largely improved PC versions of that part with additional features. Likewise the other major IC in the Xbox supplied by NVIDIA is almost entirely encompassed by the equivalent part in their Nforce chipset for PC motherboards. There is nothing in the Xbox that wasn't part of NVIDIA's existing path. NVIDIA's complaint was solely about sales. The failure of the Xbox to sell in much greater numbers than it did and Microsoft's continuing attempts to negotiate lower prices for the chips, reducing the potential profit still more. If the early volumes had been there would have been little problem and continuing investment for a cost reducing die shrink would have been justified. This would have advantages beyond the cost of the chips themselves since the reduce power draw and heat would allow for a revisions to the rest of the Xbox to reduce cost and size thus making the product attractive to a wider audience. The FX series of GPUs represent a massive increase in complexity and transistor counts over the GeForce4. NVIDIA tried to mitigate the resulting issues by moving to a smaller manufacturing process level but found that combining that transition with the difficulties already presented by the DirectX 9 class technology only made matters worse. ATI avoided this by sticking with their current dependable process and living with a monster die size. Another factor was that NVIDIA chose to include some higher-end features that had little bearing on the consumer market. This gave them and edge in their version of the chip targeting the engineering and workstation markets but also increased the transistor count. ATI chose to favor the consumer market and had a design that was manageable, albeit on the bulky side. They saved the inevitable transition to a smaller process level until after they'd gotten dependable yields on this class of chip from the current manufacturing process. ATI is not oblivious to what happened between Microsoft and NVIDIA. You can be sure those issue loomed large in the negotiations for the Xbox-2 parts. Well said, Eric. I pretty much completely agree with what you've said above. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
wg wrote in message ...
Will the chips be made in TSMC's new plant in the US? no idea on that. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
NTL to PC and Xbox | Scott | Homebuilt PC's | 8 | September 14th 04 09:53 AM |
Xbox controller on WinXP | M Berki | General | 0 | June 27th 04 12:04 PM |
Xbox 2 development kits - R400~R500 ? | R420 | Ati Videocards | 0 | January 21st 04 10:29 PM |
When will I *need* a Directx 9 card? | John | Ati Videocards | 118 | December 10th 03 07:38 AM |
Xbox or New video card? | John Whitehouse | Ati Videocards | 0 | September 12th 03 06:22 PM |