Earlier this month, reports surfaced that AMD
has eliminated any mention of Taiwan as the manufacturing location for its
consumer Ryzen 7000 desktop PC processors. This move is widely seen as a
response to requests from the People's Republic of China.
The alteration garnered attention in China, with many
interpreting it as another instance of a company complying with China's demand
to label products made in Taiwan as 'Made in China.' Some speculated that this
change would only affect AMD processors destined for China, with the rest still
labeled as 'Diffused in Taiwan.' However, AMD asserts that this adjustment
applies to all its processors and is not politically motivated.
According to an AMD spokesperson speaking to Tom's Hardware,
"AMD removed the country of diffusion from all new CPU and APU products in
2023 to align with the product marking process for our other products."
This indicates a departure from marking (silkscreening) any consumer or
enterprise processors with the country where the silicon die inside the chip
was originally fabricated (diffused). For AMD's advanced products, these
silicon dies are produced in Taiwan at TSMC.
The markings on AMD chips play a crucial role. 'Diffused'
signifies the silicon die chipmaking process, specifying where the die was
fabricated. On the other hand, the 'Made in' marking denotes the location where
the die is integrated into the chip package and tested (OSAT), involving
mounting on a substrate (PCB) and then covering with the lid (IHS - Integrated
Heat Spreader).
In the updated markings, as seen in an image shared on Twitter
by @Zed_Wang, the 'Diffused in Taiwan' line is now omitted from the top of the
processor.
Sources close to the matter reveal that this decision is part of
AMD's initiative to align its production methods for existing products with
those of Xilinx, acquired in a $35 billion deal that concluded in February
2022. Xilinx's products don't carry the country of diffusion marking, and this
change aims to bring consistency across AMD's entire product lineup.
While AMD officially states that the new chip
marking strategy is unrelated to political issues, it undoubtedly addresses
longstanding concerns about markings on products destined for China. It's worth
noting that not specifying the country of manufacture on processors is a common
industry practice, and the removal of these markings is not unprecedented. For
instance, chips from Intel and other manufacturers often lack details about the
country of manufacture.