At a press conference held here today, AMD announced that in March it began first revenue shipments of AMD64 processors manufactured at Fab 36 in Dresden, Germany.

The company ramped the new 300 millimeter (mm) fab to 90 nanometer (nm) volume production in record time. AMD's new facility in Dresden, Germany, opened last October.

The company also disclosed that it has been producing a significant number of 65nm development test chips in parallel with 90nm products at the fab, in preparation for volume 65nm production later this year. Fab 36 engineers, with the help of AMD's patented Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM) systems, are constantly analyzing data collected from the test chips and making consistent improvements. Fab 36 remains on track to begin 65nm production shipments in the second-half of this year, and be substantially converted to 65nm production by mid-2007.

The fab, which was originally designed to produce a maximum of 20,000 wafers per month, now produces approximately 30,000 wafers per month, according to AMD.