AMD has updated their wafer supply agreement with Globalfoundries by signing a new five-year deal.

As AMD already had a deal with Globalfoundries, this new amendment to the Wafer Supply Agreement (WSA) with Globalfoundries, covering a 5-year period from 2016 to 2020, will ensure that AMD will continue producing most of its chips at Globalfoundries and will also work with Globalfoundries on the upcoming 7nm manufacturing process.

As a part of the deal, AMD will pay Globalfoundries US $100 million in cash over the next year, which could change if Globalfoundries fail to make the cut.

According to details, it is obvious that Globalfoundries will move directly from 14nm FinFET manufacturing process to 7nm, and skip 10nm altogether.

As the precise time-frame for 7nm is still unknown, this might force AMD to make 10nm chips with TSMC, Samsung or even Intel, all of which will have 10nm manufacturing process.

According to Lisa Su, AMD's CEO, the goal of the company is to have "continued access to leading-edge foundry process technologies enabling us to build multiple generations of great products for years to come."

Hopefully, the direct move from 14nm to 7nm will work well for Globalfoundries and AMD as well.





Source: Anandtech.com.