AMD

While AMD isn't giving away any information on its future fab plans, a major chip foundry is gearing up for a big new customer.

TSMC, the largest chip foundry in the world, is apparently planning to take on a new customer that wants to use the high-k dielectrics and metal gates introduced earlier this year by both Intel and IBM. Sumner Lemon of IDG News Service sat through a TSMC earnings call in which company executives mentioned a mysterious new customer would be coming on board in the second half of 2008.

There are not a lot of folks … Read more

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--Apparently sometimes, you just can't say no, even when you know it's going to hurt.

That seems to be where AMD finds itself, as it tries to reconcile a draining price war against the high demand for its chips. Intel has been squeezing AMD's margins for over a year through processor price cuts, but AMD has still managed to expand its foothold inside customers like Dell and gain new customers like Toshiba.

The problem is that much of that growth is coming at the low end of the market, where less profits can be had. … Read more

The future of AMD's asset-light manufacturing strategy remained detail-light Thursday.

There's been lots of speculation about AMD's manufacturing plans this year as the company has posted heavy losses, and it has intensified since CEO Hector Ruiz made comments about possible changes to the company's strategy on its first-quarter earnings conference call.

But AMD hasn't shared any plans about its future mix of manufacturing capacity during neither its second-quarter earnings call earlier this month, nor Thursday's technology analyst meeting. Doug Grose, senior vice president at AMD in charge of manufacturing, reiterated that "asset light&… Read more

Next week, Greenest Host in San Diego is going to start offering carbon-free Web services to consumers.

The company plans to start selling Web hosting services for about $14.95 a month. The trick is that its servers and other systems are powered by solar panels or batteries charged by solar panels. In rare instances, a propane-based generator will kick in, but for the most part the services will not contribute greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The solar-powered server center is the creation of Affordable Internet Services Online (AISO), which has been offering environmentally friendly Web hosting for a few … Read more

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--AMD's Fusion chip will come in two varieties, one for PCs and servers and another for consumer electronics devices.

Bulldozer is the code name for the Fusion chip that will be designed for everything from servers to handhelds, said Phil Hester, AMD's chief technology officer. Bobcat is the name for a sub 10-watt x86 chip that AMD believes can power ultramobile PCs, cell phones and existing consumer electronics chips using the ARM or MIPS architectures.

You call in a bulldozer when you need a lot of earth moved in a short amount of time, Hester said. … Read more

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--AMD will unveil a new chip design in 2009 for the server market and faster versions of its Barcelona quad-core chip later this year, company executives said Thursday.

AMD's near-term goal is to get its Barcelona quad-core chip out into the market. The company has already said it plans to launch Barcelona chips at 2GHz later this quarter, but it also plans to ship faster versions of those chips in the fourth quarter, said Randy Allen, corporate vice president of AMD's server products division, at a technology analyst meeting at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters. … Read more

Apple CEO Steve Jobs usually waits until the end of his keynotes to deliver the real news. We'll start from the start.

This post kicks off One More Thing, a personal blog in which I'll share with you my take on Apple, the chip industry, and the gradual evolution of mobile computing as the PC starts to look more and more like the clock radio. It's going to be a combination of news and commentary, mostly on Apple but also on the chip industry and the development of the truly mobile computer.

If you're looking for … Read more

This quarter was all over the map for Advanced Micro Devices.

It was just too hard to come up with an quick summary of AMD's fortunes. Overall revenue was up, but AMD didn't have a graphics division this time last year. Profits were horrific, but gross margins improved. Chip revenue was down compared to last year, but chip shipments were up 38 percent compared to the first quarter of this year (usually, second-quarter shipments are flat or down compared to the first quarter).

So, rather than glaze over everything in trying to present a comprehensive narrative, here's … Read more

Hopefully, a shift in Intel's marketing strategy will put the Core 2 Duo dancers on hiatus later this year, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said Tuesday.

After Intel realized its fortunes had begun to turn last year, the company immediately began a marketing blitz called "Multiply," based almost exclusively around the Core 2 Duo brand. It was an interesting--if not somewhat perplexing--departure from the platform branding strategy that previously governed Intel's marketing, but any baseball manager will tell you that you've got to go with the hot hand while it's hot. The Core 2 Duo's performance … Read more