Unnamed industry sources have reportedly informed Fudzilla that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) 40nm yields may not improve until the second quarter of next year. The sources said that yields are currently around 50%, and should be at 90% or higher for such a mature process.
If true, this suggests that the ongoing shortage of AMD's Radeon HD 5000-series graphics cards will continue. Nvidia's highly anticipated Fermi-based products might also be affected, as they are expected to begin volume shipments next quarter, and should hit store shelves by March 2010.
TSMC admitted to manufacturing troubles in October, blaming "chamber matching issues" for the low yields, and CEO Morris Chang said things would return to normal before the end of the year. I suppose time will tell. In the meantime, if you happen to catch a plentiful stock of Radeon HD 5000 cards, feel free to make note of it in the comments or on the TechSpot forum.