AMD's Ryzen CPUs: Changes in Taiwan Raise Questions About China

 

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.

 




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