Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!pyramid!prls!mips!mark
From: mark@mips.COM (Mark G. Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: (none)
Message-ID: <1862@mips.mips.COM>
Date: 14 Mar 88 18:07:15 GMT
Lines: 26


As a rule, the people who own the silicon processing line (`fab') are the
ones who decide whether or not to reveal chip yields.  In the case of the
R2000, MIPS doesn't own the fabs so we aren't allowed to reveal yields:

Microprocessor     Fab    Designed   Fab Processed   DARPA core    Yield
    Type         Process    by           by           MIPS ?     Disclosed?
===========================================================================
150MOPS 8bSlice   GaAs    Rockwell    Rockwell         yes          yes
200MIPS 32b uP    GaAs      TI           TI            yes          yes
RPM-40            CMOS      GE           GE            yes          no
80386             CMOS     Intel       Intel           no           no
R2000             CMOS     MIPS      LSI Logic, IDT,
                                     Performance Semi  no           no


Perhaps this all arose from an query in <1806@obiwan.mips.COM> that asked
specifically about the yields of DARPA-funded "core-MIPS" devices.
Because Rockwell and T.I. revealed their yields, it was speculated that
the DARPA contract required public yield disclosure.  As the GE core-MIPS
folks pointed out, twasn't so.  GE's yields are proprietary, and so are
Intel's, LSI's, IDT's, and Performance's.  Sorry for any confusion.

Regards,
 -Mark Johnson	*** DISCLAIMER: Any opinions above are personal. ***	
 UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!decwrl!mips!mark   TEL: 408-991-0208
 US mail: MIPS Computer Systems, 930 E. Arques, Sunnyvale, CA 94086