AMD's 65nm chips plagued by leakage issues?

Been wondering where those high-speed, 65nm Opterons are? Yeah, me too. If a poster on the Investor's Hub forums is to be believed, the reason for the chips' notable absence might be a leakage issue. An analysis of AMD's 65nm Process Variation revealed what might be a leakage problem that's preventing the company from manufacturing 65nm chips faster than about 2.6Ghz. "I think these results are pretty interesting, and may explain why AMD has not been able to ramp 65nm," writes the mysterious forum poster "wbmw." "The leakage is killing them, and only their lowest leaking parts are able to hit 2.6GHz at 1.35V, and still maintain a reasonable power envelope." If true, this could spell more trouble for the already embattled company, as it attempts to ramp up production for its 65nm Barcelona parts. "Until the firm gets the process under control, it will not be able to meet or exceed the clock speeds achieved on the 90nm process," The Inquirer writes. "This also has some pretty ugly implications for Barcelona's ramp, and AMD in general."

For more on the rumored leakage issue:
- see this detailed post from the Investor's Hub forums
- and this article from the Inquirer