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Really interesting: > With the exception of the current RTX 3000 (Samsung), all market launches of the year 2020 rely on the 7-nm chips from TSMC. ARM-SoC manu
by est31 6y ago
Really interesting:
> With the exception of the current RTX 3000 (Samsung), all market launches of the year 2020 rely on the 7-nm chips from TSMC. ARM-SoC manufacturers such as Qualcomm also use 7 nm and have only recently moved capacity from Samsung to TSMC. TSMC is currently pretty much alone in the market with this technology and the production lines are therefore working at full capacity. A sudden increase in production is therefore not possible.
> A special insulating film, the so-called ABF substrate (Ajinomoto Build-up Film), which is indispensable for etching chips in 7 and 5 nm, has also become increasingly scarce and scarce in recent months. The prices for this film are said to have risen by 40% and the waiting time is said to have increased to up to 4 months.
- monkeydust 6y agoThe ABF thing is fascinating actually. The company behind it Ajinomoto has for the last century since its existence built a business in food products: seasoning, oils, beverages, dairy products and chemicals. ABF came about through internal innovation. There's a really good (perhaps unintentionally funny) video of it here: https://players.brightcove.net/6050660078001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6094577755001 https://players.brightcove.net/6050660078001/default_default...
- 0-_-0 6y agoWow, very dramatic move about an insulating material!
- ljoshua 6y agoHa, this is the best thing I've watched in a while. :)
- rav 6y agoI feel like this is the kind of video they would show to every employee on their first day at work, and to every school class that wants to pay them a visit at their factories. And it's really entertaining too!
- octoberfranklin 6y agoThe reenactment of him being "summoned by his boss" at 3:20 is hilarious. 7:19-7:41 is another funny scene.
- efficax 6y agoI had no idea the guys who make the msg that makes my chips taste good are also involved in the other chip production.
- jcynix 6y agoCool video, thanks. Funny enough, Wikipedia doesn't mention ABF at all in their article on the company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajinomoto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajinomoto
- BlueTemplar 6y agoUmami-san!
- segfaultbuserr 6y agoInteresting, even general-purpose chip makers like ST, NXP and Infineon experience shortage. > Other components make things even more complicated: The small additional chips (controller, supervisor, etc.) from ST Micro, NXP or Infineon are also missing due to another deficiency: silicon wafers with 8 inch diameter. Many products then suffer from this, such as PC power supplies, but also consoles of the PS5 and Xbox series X and the graphics cards. Flash memory and DRAMs, on the other hand, do not seem to be in real short supply [...]
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- octoberfranklin 6y ago> which is indispensable for etching chips in 7 and 5 nm This isn't quite accurate; ABF is used to make the chip package for high-thermal transfer, high-speed flip chip packages: https://www.ajinomoto.com/innovation/action/buildupfilm https://www.ajinomoto.com/innovation/action/buildupfilm It doesn't seem to have a role in any specific manufacturing node; it's just essential to the best way of packaging high-end chips.