As we reported last week, TSMC is expected to report strong earnings for the fourth quarter thanks to large orders placed by AMD.

However, it's worth noting that AMD has placed orders for Ontario and Zacate APUs alongside HD 6000 GPUs. Both Ontario and Zacate are reportedly already in production, on TSMCs 40nm node. The Ontario will take on Intel's Atom processors in the netbook market and judging by the specs it should have no trouble wiping the floor with any Atom SKU.

Although AMD contracted Globalfoundries to produce the 32nm Llano APU, the company decided to go with TSMC's tried and tested 40nm process for Ontario and Zacate in order to mitigate production risks. All APUs produced by TSMC will be tested and packaged by Siliconware Precision Industries.

More here.