G5 News: IBM to boost wafer fab output by 40% this quarter
Amid a strong third quarter, IBM said it will significantly increase its microprocessor production during the current quarter.
In what appears to be encouraging news for the G5 processor, IBM Corp. plans to boost the wafer output within its 300-mm fab over the next quarter, the company told Silicon Strategies on Monday.
Citing strong performance of its microprocessor sector during its third fiscal quarter, IBM senior vice president and chief financial officer, Mark Loughridge, said the company will to boost production by 40 percent in the fourth quarter.
Over the past year IBM has struggled with chip yields at its East Fishkill, N.Y. fab, a 130- and 90-nm plant. These shortcomings have directly affected Apple Computer, which relies on a constant flow of 64-bit G5 processors from the company's Microelectronics Group for its iMac and Power Mac line of desktop computers.
During its FY 04 fourth quarter conference call last week, Apple said that shipments of both the new iMac G5 and the PowerMac G5 were constrained due to ongoing supply constraints associated with IBM's G5 processor. However, the company it was enthusiastic over progress being made by IBM to increase G5 yields.
In September Apple shipped twice as many G5s as it did in the months July and August combined. The Mac maker said it believes progress will continue with a leveling of supply and demand for most variants of the G5 projected for the end of its fiscal Q1 05.
Yields of IBM's 2.5GHz G5 processor could take slightly longer to improve, Apple warned.
In what appears to be encouraging news for the G5 processor, IBM Corp. plans to boost the wafer output within its 300-mm fab over the next quarter, the company told Silicon Strategies on Monday.
Citing strong performance of its microprocessor sector during its third fiscal quarter, IBM senior vice president and chief financial officer, Mark Loughridge, said the company will to boost production by 40 percent in the fourth quarter.
Over the past year IBM has struggled with chip yields at its East Fishkill, N.Y. fab, a 130- and 90-nm plant. These shortcomings have directly affected Apple Computer, which relies on a constant flow of 64-bit G5 processors from the company's Microelectronics Group for its iMac and Power Mac line of desktop computers.
During its FY 04 fourth quarter conference call last week, Apple said that shipments of both the new iMac G5 and the PowerMac G5 were constrained due to ongoing supply constraints associated with IBM's G5 processor. However, the company it was enthusiastic over progress being made by IBM to increase G5 yields.
In September Apple shipped twice as many G5s as it did in the months July and August combined. The Mac maker said it believes progress will continue with a leveling of supply and demand for most variants of the G5 projected for the end of its fiscal Q1 05.
Yields of IBM's 2.5GHz G5 processor could take slightly longer to improve, Apple warned.
Comments
Extremely good.
Your point?
Taking them to task for working out the bugs by shaking your fists and saying "Yeah, but you should have done it *sooner*!" is a waste of your energy and time - of course it would have been nice for them to have, for everyone involved. It also would have been nice for Motorola to get their craniums out of their rectums, but they failed to do so until it was too late.
Good to hear that they're getting the system flowing smoothly, if a bit behind schedule.
(And I asked what your point was, because I genuinely didn't see what it was... still not sure, but if it was merely to vent frustration, so be it.)
Originally posted by AppleInsider
...Mark Loughridge, said the company will to boost production by 40 percent in the fourth quarter.
Will TRY to? Will promise to? Will vow to?
Originally posted by Kickaha
Just that it was rather a, um, silly comment... IBMs not stupid, they know there is demand. It's not like they said to themselves "Wow, there's a great market for this, let's just not sell any..."
Taking them to task for working out the bugs by shaking your fists and saying "Yeah, but you should have done it *sooner*!" is a waste of your energy and time - of course it would have been nice for them to have, for everyone involved. It also would have been nice for Motorola to get their craniums out of their rectums, but they failed to do so until it was too late.
Good to hear that they're getting the system flowing smoothly, if a bit behind schedule.
(And I asked what your point was, because I genuinely didn't see what it was... still not sure, but if it was merely to vent frustration, so be it.)
It was no venting or anything, just the first thing that popped into my mind after reading the article. Companies make mistakes like anyone or anything, Apple does it, IBM does it, Microsoft does it, and I don't think there is anything wrong with pointing out the mistakes they make. But hey, let's not go off-topic
Originally posted by debuysserk
sure, this is great news, but they should've done this a couple of months ago.
You're statement is right on with my thoughts while reading this article. I get you.
I guess the problem is that they make it sound like it was simply a matter of deciding to up production-too which we all say "duh." If they had said we had this problem and we worked it out allowing us to up production by 40% then maybe the intial reaction wouldn't be so flippant.
Originally posted by debuysserk
sure, this is great news, but they should've done this a couple of months ago.
Yes, but they waited just to piss everyone off.
Originally posted by Zweben
Will TRY to? Will promise to? Will vow to?
Will fail to?
:-(
Will means nothing to me as other problems can arise. Is means everything.
Originally posted by kim kap sol
Is means everything. [/B]
Well, that depends on your definition of "is."
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
Yes, but they waited just to piss everyone off.
I knew it! Those blasted IBM folks have always had it in for us Apple users. We pissed them off with the Apple II. We conned people into thinking a GUI was actually a better interface than a command line. Then we went and used Motorola chips for our computers. Well, they got their revenge, didn't they. Bwahahahahaha.
Of course, did anyone consider what they'll be boosting the output of is 'nilla wafers? Maybe Necco wafers? Or perhaps wafer cones for ice cream. I hear Steve likes ice cream (well, soy ice cream).