Rumors Swirl Around AMD Chip Plant Spin-Off, New Processor Roadmap Surfaces


Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets. Its main products include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors and graphics processors for servers, workstations and personal computers, and processor technologies for handheld devices, digital television, and game consoles.

AMD is the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors based on the x86 architecture after Intel Corporation, and the third-largest supplier of graphics processing units. It also owns 21 percent of Spansion, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory. In 2007, AMD ranked eleventh among semiconductor manufacturers in terms of revenue.


AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) isn’t in the competitive position against top rival Intel that it once enjoyed. AMD, however, hasn’t given up though and continues to battle Intel for market share. AMD is particularly strong in the server market, especially in the virtualization realm where its technology offers better performance than some of Intel's similar offerings.

In December, AMD will unveil several new Phenom parts. One of them will be a Toliman-based Phenom X3 8850 running at 2.5GHz that will be multiplier unlocked. The roadmap also shows in December a pair of new Deneb-based Phenom quad-core parts. The CPUs will include the a Phenom X4 running at 3.0GHz, and a Phenom X4 running at 2.8GHz. Both of these processors will apparently not hit retail until early January.

AMD is looking to spin-off some of its chip plants Rumors have circulated for a while now. CNET News reports the rumors keep coming up repeatedly due to some truth being in them. Another rumor was started about a possible spin-off recently that cited analyst John Lau with Jefferies & Co who said, "[AMD may] spin-off of its manufacturing operations within two weeks."

CNET News quotes AMD's Drew Prairie saying, "I wouldn't expect an urgent phone call from me in the next two weeks." The implication being that Lau's timing may not be accurate. The chip factories at the heart of the rumors are the pair AMD owns in Dresden, Germany.


Prairie also said, "I wouldn't take that assumption from (analysts) as definitive. There are a lot of nuances and gray areas, as to what we're going to be doing. A lot the speculation is painting things as black and white. I don't think, come announcement day, it will be that black and white."

Prairie also stated again that the chip plant in New York -- which DailyTech reported on in June 2006 -- is a critical part of AMD's manufacturing capability. Other analysts believe that AMD could receive another influx of investment cash to shore up its operations in a manner similar to the $622 million an Abu Dhabi firm paid for an 8.1% stake in AMD in November 2007.


In related news, AMD's Q4 2008 roadmap surfaced today at CHW.net. The roadmap shows new AMD processors are inbound starting on October 8. On that day, AMD will introduce an AMD Athlon X2 5050e Brisbane-based CPU running at 2.6GHz. The same day AMD shows a new Phenom X3 8850 running at 2.5GHz debuting.

In November, AMD will introduce AMD Ultra-Value Client (UVC) solutions that are direct OEM products only. In the consumer space AMD will announced a new Lima-based Athlon 2650e at 1.6GHz. A new Brisbane-based Athlon X2 3250e running 1.5GHz will also be introduced in November.