"Our roadmap for 32nm SOI has not slipped," according to a spokesman for the company. "Yes, the timeframe for introduction has been altered slightly compared to the roadmap we showed you in July, but that is not because of any issues with the technology."

Last October, Doug Grose was given a daunting task–turning the semiconductor manufacturing operations of AMD into a service that would also serve other chip designers. Now it looks like his job may effectively double.

GlobalFoundries spokesperson Jon Carvill responded to Chang's questionable analogy by reiterating GF's "total" commitment to fair competition.

Even if the STMicroelectronics assignment would be large enough to keep the utilization up far enough, it would not suffice to guarantee the company's competitiveness. But, as Buddha said: Every journey begins with the first step.

Globalfoundries has announced a strategic customer relationship with STMicroelectronics.

Globalfoundries plans to introduce embedded silicon carbon (eSiC) to strain the nFET transistors at the 22 nm node, said John Pellerin, director of technology development.

The foundry's goal is to have the first tool move in by October 2011, with qualification coming in early 2012 and commercial production by the second half of 2012.

Robert Rivet, AMD's CFO said in a conference call that capex for subsidiary Globalfoundries would be trimmed to US$690 million.