There have been reports in the tech industry about AMD cutting down its 5nm wafer supply at TSMC.
According to a Chinese industry analyst who reported on his Weibo account, AMD has limited its wafer supply of 5nm Genoa CPUs to just 30,000 units for Q2 2023. The decrease in supply is not a result of negative feedback for the Genoa CPUs but rather due to unfavorable conditions and lower demand within the entire server segment.
However, despite this setback, AMD’s Genoa CPUs continue to be in high demand by players in the server segment because of their impressive features, which include high performance, multiple cores, threads, cache, and support for high-end memory and storage configurations. These features make them particularly attractive for server environments, where their high core count allows for greater servicing capacity.
Some industry sources have suggested this may be due to a lack of demand for AMD’s upcoming EPYC Genoa CPUs within the server market.
Notably, the current supply chain for EPYC Genoa CPUs must accurately reflect the demand for these processors. Data centers and cloud service providers often order large quantities of chips in advance.
AMD‘s EPYC Genoa CPUs are designed with up to 96 cores and 192 threads housed in 12 Core Chiplet Dies (CCDs). These CCDs are designed to work together to deliver high performance for demanding workloads in the server market.
Combining multiple CCDs on a single package creates high-core count CPUs. A 5nm wafer can yield several CCDs, each measuring around 72mm2. The Genoa CPUs are designed with multi-chiplet architecture; there could be a shortage of high-core count or high CCD (core chiplet die) chips in the coming quarter. The lack of high-core count or high CCD chips may occur due to how the Genoa CPUs are designed, which could result in a lower supply of these particular chips. This multi-chiplet design approach allows for better scalability and higher core counts than traditional monolithic CPU designs.
Not all wafers produced will contain the same number of CCDs or cores, and high-core count chips may be rare or difficult to make. This could make them an attractive option for players within the server segment looking to upgrade their systems.
The competition in the server CPU market has intensified as AMD and Arm have significantly progressed against long-time market leader Intel. In particular, AMD was gaining momentum in 2022, with data center operators and server brands preferring AMD’s solutions over Intel’s. DIGITIMES Research analyst Frank Kung predicts that AMD’s share of the server CPU market will surpass 20% in 2023, largely due to the anticipated success of its EPYC CPUs, such as Genoa and Bergamo. Despite this, Intel is still expected to remain a major player in the market, with its Xeon Sapphire Rapids family used by tech giants for their cloud and data center requirements.
In contrast, Arm’s share will be around 8%. AMD’s CPUs, which feature many cores, are particularly well-suited for server environments because they offer higher servicing capabilities. In late 2022, AMD launched the Genoa-architected EPYC processor with 96 cores, and they plan to release a 128-core CPU in the first half of 2023. In comparison, Intel’s top offering for core count currently only reaches 60.
Furthermore, Intel’s market share is expected to decline to around 70.9% in 2023, down from 77.0% in 2022. This is likely due to increasing competition from AMD and other players in the server market.
AMD has been making significant strides in the server market with its EPYC CPUs, and it will be interesting to see how the competition between AMD and Intel plays out in the coming years.
Some analysts suggest that AMD could potentially secure a significant portion of the server market share, up to 30%, by the conclusion of 2023. This growth is expected to be largely driven by the popularity of AMD’s product lines, such as the EPYC Genoa, EPYC Bergamo, and EPYC Siena, known for their high core count and suitability for the server environment.
Tech industry experts anticipate that Intel will continue to hold a significant position in the server market, as major tech companies rely on its Xeon Sapphire Rapids family of processors to meet their cloud and data center needs. Additionally, Intel is expected to be a significant driver for server DRAM during 2023, further solidifying its position in the market.
The report from Trendforce indicates that there will be greater demand for server DRAM compared to mobile DRAM in 2023. The supply of server DRAM is expected to surpass that of mobile DRAM during the year. However, as it is only the beginning of the year, market dynamics or other variables may cause the situation to change as the year progresses.