Responding to comments on device availability and fab partnership . .
Stratix II Availability: Altera has a track record of shipping devices on schedule. We realize the importance of delivering products on schedule to minimize our customers' risk to deliver their end products. Altera has worked with TSMC, worldwide foundry leader, on 90nm process technology since 2001 and taped out >10 test chips prior to Stratix II. As a result, we were able to ship our first 90nm Stratix II device, the EP2S60, 6 weeks ahead of schedule. Stratix II development boards are available today. 4 additional Stratix II devices are on schedule to roll out before the end of the year and the final Stratix II device is on track for a Q1-05 introduction. And Stratix II devices are on boards at over
60 customers. 90-nm Fab Partnership A key component of any architectural selection decision involves probability of success in rolling out the devices. I agree with the general assertion made by my colleague that past success does influence this probability. Past success is based on picking the right fab partner, investing heavily with that partner, and staying on primary process nodes with mainstream processes. Argument was made that success on a proven 90 nm partner UMC (with Spartan 3) explains why Virtex 4 is low-risk. The fact that Xilinx's technical spokesperson has repeatedly highlighted that all of Spartan-3's availability woes are "demand related" and not "supply related" is also relevant here.Altera will continue to invest all process related resources with a single partner, TSMC. This partner continues to demonstrate process excellence at every leading node. By investing with a single fab partner rather than diluting investment across multiple partners, Altera will continue to stay ahead of the process curve.
Altera will stick with mainstream processes and release product on them when they are ready for mainstream production. All 90-nm products will include low-K; now that low-K is mainstream and provides significant upside in terms of power and performance, it is clearly an advantageous feature. Triple oxide deviates from standard processing which seems ill-advised.
Spartan-3 delivery problems are not a demand issue. Spartan 3 unit shipments are below Spartan 2 unit shipments (I base this on publicly highlighted numbers) - perhaps Xilinx could point out the specifics here. And Spartan 3 unit shipments are ~ 1/4th Cyclone unit shipments (both parts rolled out at the same time). Clearly high-volume families are architected to expand the FPGA market; claiming "best rollout ever" or "demand problem" just doesn't line up with the facts.
And even if Spartan-3 90-nm issues were suddenly solved, this UMC "success" would only be relevant if Virtex 4 used the exact same fab process and fab partner for production. Current rumors in the trade press highlight that Xilinx is evaluating other sources for their
90-nm products (no doubt based on the tremendous success with the Spartan-3 rollout). I look for Xilinx to comment on which fab will be used for producing Virtex 4 parts.I would strongly prefer to leave this site to the technologists. Altera will continue to respond though with marketing oriented postings when the facts are not properly presented or when marketing questions arise.
Dave Greenfield Sr. Director of Product Marketing ? High Density FPGAs Altera Corporation