Run that tape
Contrary to reports circulating on the web, AMD's much-vaunted Bulldozer core is not currently taping-out, but Llano is - or at least will likely be doing so imminently.
At an AMD financial analyst day in Sunnyvale, California, Rick Bergman, the firm's SVP of platforms, was asked about the 32nm APU - combination of CPU and GPU - sampling to customers, to which he replied it would be at some point in 1H 2010.
Now, according to AMD's roadmap, the first 32nm APU the firm will be bringing to market will be Llano, which will apparently be based on a 32nm variant of the "Stars"-class cores used in the Tigris platform and new integrated DX11 GPUs. It does not, however, use the Bulldozer core.
In most cases, there is a four-to-six month window from tape-out to customer sampling, which would mean that, according to our humble calculations, Llano has either already taped out, or will do so very, very soon indeed.
Bulldozer, on the other hand, will likely not tape-out until later in 2010, and we've heard whisperings that it's probably not even planned for 2011, and if it is, it will be towards the very end of that year. Bulldozer also uses a brand-spanking-new core architecture that only comes into play after Llano, not before. It will be built by GlobalFoundries on a 32nm SOI process with high-k metal gate, we imagine.
If we were in the speculation business, we'd even throw in our bet that AMD might try to pull Llano in a bit, and get it to market in late 2010, rather than the currently predicted 2011, especially with GlobalFoundries chief, Doug Grose, telling analysts today that his fab was already ready to accept 32nm designs, as the ramp has apparently gone very well indeed.
If AMD could kick Llano out the door by late 2010 rather than 2011, it would certainly be just what the doctor ordered in terms of making for a far healthier and full-blooded 2010 product line-up.
