NO SALE: IBM won't cash in its chips with GlobalFoundries after all

IBM's hopes of unloading its loss-making semiconductor division to GlobalFoundries have reportedly been dashed, with GlobalFoundries refusing to budge on price. Word that Big Blue was planning to sell off its chips business first surfaced in February, when the company retained investment bankers Goldman Sachs to help it put a …

[David Lester]

300mm (= 1') fab

"DiMarco, a longtime IBM employee, was previously in charge of designing, building, and running IBM's 300mm fab in East Fishkill, NY."

Really? 300mm? One imperial foot?

Like wow!

Are you sure you're not having a Dr Evil moment?

(should it in fact be 30nm?)

[Justthefacts]

Re: 300mm (= 1') fab

No, smartarse.

300mm is wafer size

[present_arms]

Re: 300mm (= 1') fab

gotta see the socket for that

[Hideki]

Re: 300mm (= 1') fab

I think we call them shoes.

[Mpeler]

Re: 300mm (= 1') fab

"I think we call them shoes."

Plates o' meat ....cor...

[Mpeler]

Re: 300mm (= 1') fab

"gotta see the socket for that"

I think they're octal sockets with point-to-point wiring for tubes/valves :)

see https://tubedepot.com/t/diy-central/tube-sockets/8-pin-octal-sockets for instance...no wonder GF thought it was outdated....

One thin wafer......

[P0l0nium]

Re: 300mm (= 1') fab

"Dougal! ... These are SMALL ... and those are FAR AWAY"

[Anonymous Coward]

In David's defence, how were we meant to know 300mm meant wafer size, I was puzzled by that too. I bet the reporter didn't know so just avoided explaining.

[seansaysthis]

Fab facilities are often described as 200mm, 300mm or 450mm referring to the wafer size. The actual process that may run in these facilities may be different nm process as fab are often refitted. The equipment or tools as they are known in the trade are normally designed for a specific wafer size. Generally speaking the larger the wafer the more chips you can produce per wafer leading to higher volumes.

[Eltonga]

To avoid been bashed, whenever you feel somehow baffled by some information, google it. It's called thinking before posting.

[Graham 24]

Who knows best?

>>> the company retained investment bankers Goldman Sachs to help it put a value on the division.

Am I the only one who finds it odd that a bunch of bankers apparently know more about how much a silicon foundry business is worth than say, a bunch of people who actually run a silicon foundry business?

[Mpeler]

Re: Who knows best?

Probably the bankers are there to, erm, help finance the deal, so they needed to be on board early...GS seems to get their snout in a lot of mergers/divestitures/guttings/etc. so it's not surprising.

What would be a shame is if they were the ones who pooched the deal.....AFAIK 300mm is not THAT old, but maybe the equipment itself is...(what's Intel using nowadays?)...

Paris, because she'd like to see diamond wafers....

[confused and dazed]

Re: Who knows best?

300mm has been the standard for years - irrespective of process node.

Intel still uses 300mm for volume, although people are now evaluating 450mm