Wow, this is turning into a full fledged soap opera. New information that comes from the Swedish Sewclockers.com suggests that Nvidia's plans for 20nm Maxwell might take a big hit because of TSMC not being ready for 20nm GPU ASIC production. This source is pretty reliable, but for news this big, I would recommend you guys take it with a pinch of salt.
TSMC Not Ready for 20nm GPU Production - Nvidia 20nm Maxwell Delayed to Late 2014, Early 2015 - Intermediary 28nm Maxwell?
This news is pretty surprising but this is the rationale, the source gives. Basically 20nm has already begun at TSMC, but apparently the process is not yet ready for full fledged GPU core production. This is of course very bad news for Nvidia which has been ready with its Maxwell Architecture since quite some some time now. According to the same source, we might see an odd card or two by the end of 2014 but the actual lineup will most probably come in 2015. The reason being, as I have already stated, that TSMC is not ready to begin 20nm GPU Production.
Interestingly this would shorten the market lead Nvidia has over the GPU Cycle, meaning more time for AMD GPUs to sell under the same cycle. Also I am not sure how this will affect Nvidia's roadmap in the long run, meaning whether Pascal, Volta etc are still on track. Because if this means that a delay will stack up on a delay, then its bad news all round. However there is also another chance. And that chance is that Nvidia releases intermediary 28nm Maxwell GPUs, I do not know how likely this is, but I am going to put it on record just to be on the safe side. I have sent an email to Nvidia's PR department, and whatever the case may be, I will update this article.
Apparently #Nvidia 20nm Delayed to Early 2015 or Late 2014. 28nm Intermediary Maxwell? You saw it here first. http://t.co/RJHoJ5B0Nr
— Usman Pirzada (@usmanpirzada) March 31, 2014
