Startups r us

Nvidia reportedly asked TSMC to explore making 3D DRAM. "FAKE NEWS" was my knee-jerk reaction, but perhaps that's too strong. Whatever's going on, it is NOT a near-term fix for the DRAM shortage. TSMC is a logic chip maker, not a DRAM manufacturer - VERY different production requirements. Patents show TSMC has explored 3D DRAM designs, but R&D and patents are a long way from mass production. TSMC can't simply convert a logic fab and start shipping. Equipment overlap helps, but developing the production process, qualifying the product and bringing it to mass production would be a multiyear undertaking. Where does the specialized memory production technology come from? A licensing deal with a major memory maker? An acquisition? A JV? Otherwise, developing its own competitive 3D DRAM production process could take several years. And even a licensing deal would not make production instant. Integration, qualification and yield still have to be solved. The story's reference to TSMC's head of advanced packaging, Hsu Kuo-chin, is quite interesting. He used to be chairman of Micron Taiwan. He knows memory chips. Still, knowing and owning the IP are not the same. My read: Nvidia wants 3D DRAM ready for a future product that needs higher bandwidth, lower power consumption, tighter integration with GPUs, etc. And that's a long term project.