T hough last weekis power outage in the North East US and South East Canada shut down manufacturing for two days at the plant where IBM makes Appleis G5 processors, an Apple exec says that things are going well with IBM. The plant in question is the East Fishkill, NY fab, which is one of IBMis newest manufacturing centers. The G5 is just one of the processors made at the facility.
C|Net reported yesterday that IBM was cutting some 600 jobs at some of the companyis other chip-making operations, a move unrelated to production of Appleis G5. In that story, however, was a short bit on the G5, which began shipping yesterday. Apple VP Greg Joswiak was quoted as saying that IBM had been doing a great job supplying the G5s. From the C|Net article:
[Bill OiLeary, an IBM spokesman] said IBM is making progress in improving output at its newest chipmaking plant, in East Fishkill, NY During an earnings conference call in July, executives said the company had seen lower-than-expected yields from its new chipmaking operation, although OiLeary said those problems have been broadly resolved.
"I think we do have the yield issues largely under control and behind us," he said.
Earlier Monday, Apple Computer said it has started shipping its Power Mac G5 desktop, which uses chips made at the East Fishkill plant. Apple vice president Greg Joswiak said the company is pleased with the supply of G5 chips it is getting from IBM.
"Our stuff has actually been going rather well," Joswiak told CNET News.com. "Theyive been doing a great job supplying us with G5s."
With Appleis history of missing new product rollouts, many have been watching for the release of the Power Mac G5 to see if Apple could meet its shipping goals. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in June that the G5 would ship in August, which the company met when it shipped the new units yesterday.
Thereis more in the full article on IBMis job cuts.