A report in the Poughkeepsie Journal said that IBM has started a major extension to its 300 millimetre fabrication plant.

East Fishkill, according to the paper, makes processors for high end IBM kit, for Apple Computers, and it claims, for Advanced Micro Devices.

AMD and IBM have a strategic alliance on microprocessor development, but it's never been entirely clear whether that deal includes making chips for the small X86 company.

The paper quotes the publisher of the Infrastructure newsletter as saying much of the R&D capacity at IBM's existing plant concerns AMD projects. AMD has staff based in East Fishkill.

It may also churn out Playstation 3 microprocessors at this fab.

The paper said that IBM is keeping silent on Annex 323-A, which it estimates will cost a cool one billion dollars.

The annex is 372,000 square feet and is being put together in a tearing hurry, the newspaper said. It also quotes a consultant as saying that there are "unusual alliances" afoot. We wonder what those could be.

This news comes as Dell CEO Kevin Rollins threw out further hints that his firm might use AMD microprocessors. Have a gander at Ace's Hardware forum.


Source : TheInquirer