[katane]

I feel like this is a tech-problem that will have a tech-solution. No idea how that fits into an "International Trade Partner Conference".

That said, you can't outsource your complete manufacturing process only to come back later and wish for "virtual IDM" partnerships. Thats all of the benefits and none of the risk.

[ak217]

Rhetoric aside, Nvidia is the designer who keeps breaking transistor count records and is a dominant OEM supplier. That makes them both a technology and business leader among TSMC's customers, so it makes sense for TSMC to devote resources to them, since the experience they get in working with them can't be gained elsewhere and is applicable to their other customers down the road.

[ajross]

Pretty sure most of the (logic) transistor count records are held by FPGAs, no?

[pmjordan]

Not at the clock speeds that nvidia chips run at.

[ak217]

I guess you're right:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_count

But they are very different beasts with different technology and a different (much smaller) market, right?

[vtail]

You are right: 2.6B for CPU, 4.3B for GPU and 6.8B for FPGA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_count