Advanced Micro Devices

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Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Enabling today. Inspiring tomorrow.

Headquarters in Sunnyvale, California

Type Public

Traded as NYSE: AMD

Industry Semiconductors

Founded May 1, 1969

Founders Jerry Sanders

Edwin Turney
Additional co-founders

Headquarters One AMD Place,[1]

Sunnyvale, California, United States

Area served Worldwide

 Key people Lisa Su (CEO)[2]
Bruce Claflin (Executive Chairman)

Products Microprocessors
Motherboard chipsets
Graphics processing units
Random-access memory[3]
TV tuner cards[4]

Revenue  $5.30 billion (2013)[5]

Operating income  $103 million (2013)[5]

Net income  -$83 million (2013)[5]

 US$ 4.337 billion (2013)[6]

Total assets  US$ 4.0 billion (2012)[6]

Total equity  $544 million(2013)[5]

Employees 10,671 (2013)[5]

Divisions SeaMicro, Inc.

Website amd.com

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinationalsemiconductor company based

in Sunnyvale, California, United States, that develops computer processors and related technologies
for business and consumer markets. While initially it manufactured its own processors, the company
became fabless after GlobalFoundries was spun off in 2009. AMD's main products
include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors and graphics
processors for servers, workstations and personal computers, and embedded systems applications.
AMD is the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors based on thex86 architecture and also
one of the largest suppliers of graphics processing units.
AMD is the only significant rival to Intel in the central processor (CPU) market for (x86 based)
personal computers. Since acquiring ATI in 2006, AMD and its competitor Nvidia have dominated
the discrete graphics processor unit (GPU) market. [7]

Contents
  [hide] 

 1 Company history
o 1.1 First twelve years
o 1.2 Technology exchange agreement with Intel
 2 Processor market history
o 2.1 IBM PC and the x86 architecture
o 2.2 K5, K6, Athlon, Duron, and Sempron
 o 2.3 Athlon 64, Opteron and Phenom
o 2.4 Fusion, Bobcat, Bulldozer, Vishera, and Hondo
o 2.5 ARM architecture-based chip
 3 Products and technologies
o 3.1 Graphics products
o 3.2 AMD chipsets
o 3.3 AMD Live!
o 3.4 AMD Quad FX platform
o 3.5 Server platform
o 3.6 Desktop platforms
o 3.7 Embedded systems
o 3.8 Other initiatives
o 3.9 Software
 4 Production and fabrication
 5 Corporate affairs
o 5.1 Partnerships
o 5.2 Litigation with Intel
o 5.3 Events and publications
o 5.4 Guinness World Record Achievement
o 5.5 Corporate social responsibility
 6 See also
 7 References
 8 Notes
 9 External links

Company history[edit]

AMD campus in Markham, Ontario,Canada, formerly ATI headquarters

AMD's LEED-certified Lone Star campus in Austin, Texas

First twelve years[edit]

Advanced Micro Devices was formally incorporated on May 1, 1969, by Jerry Sanders, along with
seven of his colleagues from Fairchild Semiconductor.[8][9]Sanders, an electrical engineer who was
the director of marketing at Fairchild, had like many Fairchild executives grown frustrated with the
increasing lack of support, opportunity, and flexibility within that company, and decided to leave to
start his ownsemiconductor company.[10] The previous year Robert Noyce, who had invented the first
practical integrated circuit or microchip in 1959 at Fairchild, [11] had left Fairchild together with Gordon
Moore and founded the semiconductor company Intel in July 1968.[12]
In September 1969 AMD moved from its temporary location in Santa Clara toSunnyvale, California.
[13]
 To immediately secure a customer base, AMD initially became a second source supplier of
microchips designed by Fairchild and National Semiconductor.[14][15] AMD first focused on producing
logic chips.[16] The company guaranteed quality control to United States Military Standard, an
advantage in the early computer industry since unreliability in microchips was a distinct problem that
customers – including computer manufacturers, the telecommunications industry, and instrument
manufacturers – wanted to avoid.[14][17][18][19]
In November 1969 the company manufactured its first product, the Am9300, a 4-bitMSI shift register,
which began selling in 1970. [20][19] Also in 1970, AMD produced its first proprietary product, the
Am2501 logic counter, which was highly successful. [21][22] Its best-selling product in 1971 was the
Am2505, the fastest multiplier available.[21][23]
In 1971 AMD entered the RAM chip market, beginning with the Am3101, a 64-bit bipolar RAM.[24]
[23]
 That year AMD also greatly increased the sales volume of its linear integrated circuits, and by
year end the company's total annual sales reached $4.6 million. [21][25]
AMD went public in September 1972.[26][14][27] The company was a second source for
Intel MOS/LSI circuits by 1973, with products such as Am14/1506 and Am14/1507, dual 100-bit
dynamic shift registers.[28][29] By 1975 AMD was producing 212 products – of which 49 were
proprietary, including the Am9102 (a static N-channel 1024-bit RAM)[30] and three low-
powerSchottky MSI circuits: Am25LS07, Am25LS08, and Am25LS09.[31]
Intel had created the first microprocessor, its 4-bit 4004, in 1971.[32][33] By 1975, AMD entered the
microprocessor market with the Am9080, a reverse-engineered clone of the Intel 8080,[34][35][36] and
the Am2900 bit-slice microprocessor family.[35]When Intel began installing microcode in its
microprocessors in 1976, it entered into a cross-licencing agreement with AMD, granting AMD a
copyright license to the microcode in its microprocessors and peripherals, effective October 1976. [31]
[37][38][39][40]

In 1977 AMD entered into a joint venture with Siemens, a German engineering conglomerate
wishing to enhance its technology expertise and enter the U.S. market. [41] Siemens purchased 20%
of AMD's stock, giving AMD an infusion of cash to increase its product lines. [42][41][43] That year the two
companies also jointly established Advanced Micro Computers, located in Silicon Valley and in
Germany, giving AMD an opportunity to enter the microcomputer development and manufacturing
field,[44][41][45][46] in particular based on AMD's second-source Zilog Z8000 microprocessors.[47][48] When
the two companies' vision for Advanced Micro Computers diverged, AMD bought out Siemens' stake
in the U.S. division in 1979.[49][50] AMD closed its Advanced Micro Computers subsidiary in late 1981,
after switching focus to manufacturing second-source Intel x86 microprocessors. [51][52][47]
Total sales in fiscal year 1978 topped $100 million,[44] and in 1979 AMD debuted on the New York
Stock Exchange.[22] In 1979 production also began in AMD's new semiconductor fab in Austin;[22] the
company already had overseas assembly facilities in Penang and Manila,[53] and it began
construction on a semiconductor fab in San Antonio in 1981.[54] In 1980, AMD began supplying
semiconductor products for telecommunications, an industry undergoing rapid expansion and
innovation.[55]
Technology exchange agreement with Intel[edit]
Intel had introduced the first x86 microprocessors in 1978.[56] In 1981 IBM created its PC, and wanted
Intel's x86 processors, but only under the condition that Intel also provide a second-source
manufacturer for its patented x86 microprocessors.[17]Intel and AMD entered into a 10-year
technology exchange agreement, first signed in October 1981 [52][57] and formally executed in February
1982.[40] The terms of the agreement were that each company could acquire the right to become a
second-source manufacturer for semiconductor products developed by the other; that is, each party
could "earn" the right to manufacture and sell a product developed by the other, if agreed to, by
exchanging the manufacturing rights to a product of equivalent technical complexity. The technical
information and licenses needed to make and sell a part would be exchanged for a royalty to the
developing company.[39] The 1982 agreement also extended the 1976 AMD–Intel cross-licensing
agreement through 1995.[39][40] The agreement included the right to invoke arbitration of
disagreements, and after five years the right of either party to end the agreement with one year's
notice.[39] The main result of the 1982 agreement was that AMD become a second-source
manufacturer of Intel's x86 microprocessors and related chips, and Intel provided AMD with
database tapes for its 8086, 80186, and 80286 chips.[40]
Beginning in 1982 AMD began volume-producing second-source Intel-licensed 8086, 8088, 80186,
and 80188 processors, and by 1984 its own Am286 clone of Intel's 80286 processor, for the rapidly
growing market of IBM PCs and IBM clones.[17][58] It also continued its successful concentration on
proprietary bipolar chips.[59] In 1983 it introduced INT.STD.1000, the highest manufacturing quality
standard in the industry.[54][19]
The company continued to spend greatly on research and development, [60] and in addition to other
breakthrough products, created the world's first 512K EPROM in 1984.[61] That year AMD was listed
in the book The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America,[62][54] and based on 1984 income it made
the Fortune 500 list for the first time in 1985.[63][64]
By mid 1985 however, the microchip market experienced a severe downturn, mainly due to longterm
aggressive unfair trade practices (dumping) from Japan, but also due to a crowded and non-
innovative chip market in the U.S.[65] AMD rode out the mid-1980s crisis by aggressively innovating
and modernizing,[66] devising the Liberty Chip program of designing and manufacturing one new chip
or chip set per week for 52 weeks in fiscal year 1986,[67][54] and by heavily lobbying the U.S.
government until sanctions and restrictions were put into place to prevent predatory Japanese
pricing.[68] During this time period, AMD withdrew from the DRAM market,[69] and at the same time
made some headway into the CMOS market, which it had lagged in entering, having focused instead
on bipolar chips.[70]
AMD had some success in the mid-1980s with the AMD7910 and AMD7911 "World
Chip" FSK modem, one of the first multi-standard devices that covered both Bell and CCITT tones at
up to 1200 baud half duplex or 300/300 full duplex. [71]Beginning in 1986, AMD embraced the
perceived shift toward RISC with their own AMD Am29000 (29k) processor;[72] the 29k survived as
an embedded processor.[73][74] The company also increased its EPROM memory market share in the
late 1980s.[75] Throughout the 1980s, AMD was a second-source supplier of Intel x86 processors. In
1991, it introduced its own 386-compatible Am386, an AMD-designed chip. Creating its own chips,
AMD began to compete directly with Intel.[76]
AMD had a large and successful flash memory business, even during the dotcom bust.[77] In 2003, to
divest some manufacturing and aid its overall cash flow, which was under duress from aggressive
microprocessor competition from Intel, AMD spun-off its flash memory business and manufacturing
into Spansion, a joint venture with Fujitsu, which had been co-manufacturing flash memory with
AMD since 1993.[78][79] AMD divested itself of Spansion in December 2005, in order to focus on the
microprocessor market, and Spansion went public in an IPO.[80]
AMD announced the acquisition of ATI Technologies on July 24, 2006. AMD paid US$4.3 billion in
cash and 58 million shares of its stock, for a total of US$5.4 billion. The transaction completed on
October 25, 2006.[81] Since 2010, all of the company's graphics processing products have been
marketed under the AMD brand name. [82]
It was reported in December 2006 that AMD, along with its main rival in the graphics industry Nvidia,
received subpoenas from the Justice Department regarding possible antitrust violations in the
graphics card industry, including the act of fixing prices. [83]
In October 2008, AMD announced plans to spin off manufacturing operations in the form of a
multibillion-dollar joint venture with Advanced Technology Investment Co., an investment company
formed by the government of Abu Dhabi. The new venture is called GlobalFoundries Inc. This
partnership will allow AMD to focus solely on chip design. [84] The spin off was accompanied by the
loss of approximately 1000 jobs, or about 10% of AMD's global workforce. [85]
In August 2011, AMD announced that former Lenovo executive Rory Read would be joining the
company as CEO, followingDirk Meyer.[86]
AMD announced in November 2011 plans to lay off more than 10% (1400) of its employees from
across all divisions worldwide.[85] This action was to have completed by Q1 2012 with most exits
before Christmas 2011.[85] AMD announced in October 2012 plans to lay off an additional 15% of its
workforce with an unspecified effective date to reduce costs in the face of declining sales revenue. [87]
AMD acquired the low-power server manufacturer SeaMicro in early 2012 as part of a strategy to
regain lost market share in the server chip market.[88][89]
On October 8, 2014, AMD announced that Rory Read had stepped down after three years as
president and chief executive officer.[2] He was succeeded by Lisa Su, a key lieutenant who had been
serving as chief operating officer since June.[90]
On October 16, 2014, AMD announced a new restructuring plan along with its Q3 results. Effective
July 1, 2014 AMD reorganized into two business groups: Computing and Graphics and Enterprise,
Embedded and Semi-Custom. As part of this restructuring 7% of AMD's global workforce will be laid
off by the end of Q4 2014.[91]

Processor market history[edit]

Early AMD 8080 Processor (AMD AM9080ADC / C8080A), 1977

AMD D8086, 1978

See also: List of AMD microprocessors

IBM PC and the x86 architecture[edit]
Main articles: Am286, Am386, Am486 and Am5x86
In February 1982, AMD signed a contract with Intel, becoming a licensed second-source
manufacturer of 8086 and 8088 processors. IBM wanted to use the Intel 8088 in its IBM PC, but
IBM's policy at the time was to require at least two sources for its chips. AMD later produced
the Am286 under the same arrangement. By the end of 1986, IBM PC clones had overtaken the
market and Intel decided to no longer abide by IBM's rules, refusing to convey the technical details
of the i386part.[92] AMD challenged Intel's decision to cancel the agreement and won in arbitration,
but Intel disputed this decision. A long legal dispute followed, ending in 1994 when the Supreme
Court of California sided with AMD. Subsequent legal disputes centered on whether AMD had legal
rights to use derivatives of Intel'smicrocode. In the face of uncertainty, AMD was forced to
develop clean room designed versions of Intel code.
In 1991, AMD released the Am386, its clone of the Intel 386 processor. It took less than a year for
the company to sell a million units. Later, the Am486 was used by a number of large original
equipment manufacturers, including Compaq, and proved popular. Another Am486-based product,
the Am5x86, continued AMD's success as a low-price alternative. However, as product cycles
shortened in the PC industry, the process of reverse engineering Intel's products became an ever
less viable strategy for AMD.
K5, K6, Athlon, Duron, and Sempron[edit]
Main articles: AMD K5, AMD K6, Athlon, Duron and Sempron
AMD's first in-house x86 processor was the K5, which was launched in 1996.[93] The "K" was a
reference to Kryptonite. (In comic books, the only substance which could harm Superman was
Kryptonite, which was formed from radioactive pieces of his home planet, Krypton. This is a
reference to Intel's hegemony over the market, i.e., an anthropomorphization of them as Superman.
[94]
) The numeral "5" refers to the fifth generation of x86 processors; rival Intel had previously
introduced its line of fifth-generation x86 processors as Pentium because the U.S. Trademark and
Patent Office had ruled that mere numbers could not be trademarked. [95]
In 1996, AMD purchased NexGen, specifically for the rights to their Nx series of x86-compatible
processors. AMD gave the NexGen design team their own building, left them alone, and gave them
time and money to rework the Nx686. The result was the K6 processor, introduced in 1997. Although
the K6 was based on Socket 7, variants such as K6-3/450 were faster than Intel's Pentium II (sixth-
generation processor).
The K7 was AMD's seventh-generation x86 processor, making its debut on June 23, 1999, under the
brand name Athlon. Unlike previous AMD processors, it could not be used on the same
motherboards as Intel's, due to licensing issues surrounding Intel's Slot 1 connector, and instead
used a Slot A connector, referenced to the Alpha processor bus. TheDuron was a lower-cost and
limited version of the Athlon (64KB instead of 256KB L2 cache) in a 462-pin socketed PGA (socket
A) or soldered directly onto the motherboard. Sempron was released as a lower-cost Athlon XP,
replacing Duron in the socket A PGA era. It has since been migrated upward to all new sockets, up
to AM3.
On October 9, 2001, the Athlon XP was released. On February 10, 2003, the Athlon XP with 512KB
L2 Cache was released.[96]
Athlon 64, Opteron and Phenom[edit]
Main articles: Athlon 64, Opteron and Phenom (processor)
The K8 was a major revision of the K7 architecture, with the most notable features being the addition
of a 64-bit extension to the x86 instruction set (called x86-64, AMD64, or x64), the incorporation of
an on-chip memory controller, and the implementation of an extremely high performance point-to-
point interconnect called HyperTransport, as part of the Direct Connect Architecture. The technology
was initially launched as the Opteron server-oriented processor on April 22, 2003. [97]Shortly thereafter
it was incorporated into a product for desktop PCs, branded Athlon 64.[98]
On April 21, 2005, AMD released the first dual core Opteron, an x86-based server CPU.[99] A month
later, AMD released theAthlon 64 X2, the first desktop-based dual core processor family.[100] In May
2007 AMD abandoned the string "64" in its dual-core desktop product branding, becoming Athlon
X2, downplaying the significance of 64-bit computing in its processors. Further updates involved
improvements to the microarchitecture, and a shift of target market from mainstream desktop
systems to value dual-core desktop systems. In 2008, AMD started to release dual-core Sempron
processors exclusively in China, branded as the Sempron 2000 series, with lower HyperTransport
speed and smaller L2 cache. Thus AMD completed its dual-core product portfolio for each market
segment.
After K8 came K10. In September 2007 AMD released the first K10 processors – nine quad-core
Third Generation Opteron processors – followed in November by the Phenom processor for desktop.
K10 processors came in dual-core, triple-core,[101] and quad-core versions, with all cores on a single
die. AMD released a new platform, codenamed "Spider", which utilized the new Phenom processor,
as well as an R770 GPU and a 790 GX/FX chipset from the AMD 700 chipset series. However, AMD
built the Spider at 65nm, which was uncompetitive with Intel's smaller and more power-
efficient 45nm.
In January 2009, AMD released a new processor line dubbed Phenom II, a refresh of the
original Phenom built using the 45 nm process. AMD's new platform, codenamed “Dragon”, utilised
the new Phenom II processor, and an ATI R770 GPU from the R700 GPU family, as well as a 790
GX/FX chipset from the AMD 700 chipset series. The Phenom II came in dual-core, triple-core and
quad-core variants, all using the same die, with cores disabled for the triple-core and dual-core
versions. The Phenom II resolved issues that the original Phenom had, including a low clock speed,
a small L3 cache and aCool'n'Quiet bug that decreased performance. The Phenom II cost less but
was not performance-competitive with Intel's mid-to-high-range Core 2 Quads. The Phenom II also
enhanced the Phenom's memory controller, allowing it to use DDR3 in a new native socket AM3,
while maintaining backwards compatibility with AM2+, the socket used for the Phenom, and allowing
the use of the DDR2 memory that was used with the platform.
In April 2010, AMD released a new Phenom II hexa-core (6-core) processor codenamed "Thuban".
This was a totally new die based on the hexa-core “Istanbul” Opteron processor. It included AMD's
“turbo core” technology, which allows the processor to automatically switch from 6 cores to 3 faster
cores when more pure speed is needed. AMD's enthusiast platform, codenamed "Leo", utilized the
new Phenom II, a new chipset from the AMD 800 chipset series and an ATI “Cypress” GPU from
the Evergreen GPU series.

This section is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly
available information. (July 2014)

The Magny Cours and Lisbon server parts were released in 2010. The Magny Cours part came in 8
to 12 cores and the Lisbon part in 4 and 6 core parts. Magny Cours is focused on performance while
the Lisbon part is focused on high performance per watt. Magny Cours is an MCM (Multi-Chip
Module) with two hexa-core “Istanbul” Opteron parts. This will use a new G34 socket for dual and
quad socket processors and thus will be marketed as Opteron 61xx series processors. Lisbon uses
C32 socket certified for dual socket use or single socket use only and thus will be marketed as
Opteron 41xx processors. Both will be built on a 45 nm SOI process.
Fusion, Bobcat, Bulldozer, Vishera, and Hondo [edit]
Main articles: AMD Accelerated Processing Unit, AMD mobile platform, Bulldozer
(processor) and Bobcat (processor)

This section is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly
available information. (July 2014)

Following AMD's 2006 acquisition of Canadian graphics company ATI Technologies, an initiative

codenamed Fusion was announced to merge a CPU and GPU on some of their mainstream chips,
including a minimum 16 lane PCI Express link to accommodate external PCI Express peripherals,
thereby eliminating the requirement of a northbridge chip completely from the motherboard. The
initiative intended to see some of the processing originally done on the CPU (e.g. floating-point
unitoperations) moved to the GPU, which is better optimized for calculations such as floating-point
unit calculations. This is referred to by AMD as an accelerated processing unit (APU).[102]
Llano is to be the second APU released,[103] targeted at the mainstream market.[102] This will
incorporate a CPU and GPU on the same die, as well as the northbridge functions, and labeled on
AMD's new timeline as using "Socket FM1" with DDR3memory. This will, however, not be based on
the new bulldozer core and will in fact be similar to the current Phenom II"Deneb" processor serving
as AMD's high-end processor until the release of the new 32 nm parts. On September 28, 2011,
AMD said that the third quarter of 2011 won't have a 10% revenue increase as AMD planned before,
because of the manufacturing problem with the 32 nm Llano Fusion chips.[104]
Bulldozer is AMD's CPU codename for the second latest server and desktop processors released
on October 12, 2011. This family 15h microarchitecture is the successor to the family 10h
(K10) microarchitecture M-SPACE design methodology.
Bulldozer is designed from scratch, not a development of earlier processors. [105] The core is
specifically aimed at 10-125 WTDP computing products. AMD claims dramatic performance-per-watt
efficiency improvements in high-performance computing (HPC) applications with Bulldozer cores.
While hopes were very high that Bulldozer would bring AMD to be performance competitive with
arch rival Intel once more, most benchmarks were disappointing. In some cases the new Bulldozer
products were slower than the K10 model they were built to replace. [106][107][108]
Hondo is AMD's latest processor series used in Tablet computers.[109]
Vishera is AMD's current FX series processor lineup targeting the desktop performance market. It
uses 2nd generation Bulldozer-derived cores codenamed Piledriver.
Llano was AMD's first APU built for laptops.
Jaguar is the latest x86 processor core from AMD aimed at the low-power/low-cost market.
Jaguar's predecessor, Bobcat, was revealed during a speech from AMD executive vice-president
Henri Richard in Computex2007 and was put into production Q1 2011.[103] One of the major
supporters was executive vice-president Mario A. Rivaswho felt it was difficult to compete in the x86
market with a single core optimized for the 10-100 W range and actively promoted the development
of the simpler core with a target range of 1-10 watts. In addition, it was believed that the core could
migrate into the hand-held space if the power consumption can be reduced to less than 1 W.
ARM architecture-based chip[edit]
AMD intends to release 64-bit ARM System on Chips (SoC) that will begin sampling in early 2014
and release later in the year. They will be for use in servers as a low-power alternative to current x86
chips. Their implementation using the ARM architecture is codenamed "Seattle", based on the
Cortex A57 core design (ARMv8-A), and will contain 8 and 16 cores each. They will include the
proprietary SeaMicro "Freedom Fabric", as well as support for 128 GB RAM, and ten gigabit
Ethernet.[110]
Products and technologies[edit]

AMD Radeon Memory

Graphics products[edit]
See also: List of AMD graphics processing units and List of AMD Accelerated Processing Unit
microprocessors
AMD's current portfolio of dedicated graphics processors includes product families and associated
technologies aimed at the consumer, professional and high-performance computing markets.

 Radeon – brand for consumer line of graphics cards. Mobility Radeon is power-optimized

versions of Radeon graphics chips for use in laptops.
 AMD FirePro – brand for professional line of graphics cards for workstations. Succeeds the
FireGL series of workstation CAD/CAM video cards, the FireMV series and the AMD FireStream
series.
 AMD FireStream – brand for discontinued product line targeting stream
processing and GPGPU as used in various industries.
 AMD FireMV – brand for discontinued product line targeting multi-monitor setups in
professional environments.
AMD's current portfolio of technologies to be found in their products:

 AMD Eyefinity – Facilitates multi-monitor setup of to 6 monitors per graphics card.

 AMD TrueAudio – acceleration of audio calculations.
 Unified Video Decoder (UVD) – acceleration of video decoding.
 Video Codec Engine (VCD) – acceleration of video encoding.
AMD Catalyst is a collection of proprietary device drivers software available for Microsoft
Windows and Linux.
Since 2007, the AMD have decidedly participated in the development of free and open-source
graphics device drivers. The programming specifications for a number of chipsets and features were
published in several rounds. and code is being contributed to the Direct Rendering Manager in
the Linux kernel by employees hired by AMD for this purpose.
AMD chipsets[edit]
See also: Comparison of AMD chipsets
Before the launch of Athlon 64 processors in 2003, AMD designed chipsets for their processors
spanning the K6 and K7processor generations. The chipsets include the AMD-640, AMD-751 and
the AMD-761 chipsets. The situation changed in 2003 with the release of Athlon 64 processors, and
AMD chose not to further design its own chipsets for its desktop processors while opening the
desktop platform to allow other firms to design chipsets. This was the “Open Platform Management
Architecture” with ATI, VIA and SiS developing their own chipset for Athlon 64 processors and
later Athlon 64 X2 and Athlon 64 FX processors, including the Quad FX platform chipset from Nvidia.
The initiative went further with the release of Opteron server processors as AMD stopped the design
of server chipsets in 2004 after releasing the AMD-8111 chipset, and again opened the server
platform for firms to develop chipsets for Opteron processors. As of today, Nvidia and Broadcom are
the sole designing firms of server chipsets for Opteron processors.
As the company completed the acquisition of ATI Technologies in 2006, the firm gained the ATI
design team for chipsets which previously designed the Radeon Xpress 200 and the Radeon Xpress
3200 chipsets. AMD then renamed the chipsets for AMD processors under AMD branding (for
instance, the CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset was renamed as AMD 580X CrossFire chipset). In
February 2007, AMD announced the first AMD-branded chipset since 2004 with the release of the
AMD 690G chipset (previously under the development codename RS690), targeted at
mainstream IGP computing. It was the industry's first to implement a HDMI 1.2 port on
motherboards, shipping for more than a million units. While ATI had aimed at releasing an Intel IGP
chipset, the plan was scrapped and the inventories of Radeon Xpress 1250 (codenamed RS600,
sold under ATI brand) was sold to two OEMs, Abit and ASRock. Although AMD stated the firm would
still produce Intel chipsets, Intel had not granted the license of 1333 MHz FSB to ATI.
On November 15, 2007, AMD announced a new chipset series portfolio, the AMD 7-Series chipsets,
covering from enthusiast multi-graphics segment to value IGP segment, to replace the AMD
480/570/580 chipsets and AMD 690 series chipsets, marking AMD's first enthusiast multi-graphics
chipset. Discrete graphics chipsets were launched on November 15, 2007 as part of the
codenamed Spider desktop platform, and IGP chipsets were launched at a later time in Spring 2008
as part of the codenamed Cartwheel platform.
AMD returned to the server chipsets market with the AMD 800S series server chipsets. It includes
support for up to six SATA 6.0 Gbit/s ports, the C6 power state, which is featured
in Fusion processors and AHCI 1.2 with SATA FIS–based switchingsupport. This is a chipset family
supporting Phenom processors and Quad FX enthusiast platform (890FX), IGP(890GX).
AMD Live![edit]
Main article: AMD Live!
As of 2007, AMD LIVE! was a platform marketing initiative focusing the consumer electronics
segment, with an Active TV initiative for streaming Internet videos from web video services such as
YouTube, into AMD Live! PC as well as connected digital TVs, together with a scheme for an
ecosystem of certified peripherals for the ease of customers to identify peripherals for AMD LIVE!
systems for digital home experience, called "AMD LIVE! Ready". [111]
AMD Quad FX platform[edit]
Main article: AMD Quad FX platform
The AMD Quad FX platform, being an extreme enthusiast platform, [clarification needed] allows two processors
to connect through HyperTransport, which is a similar setup to dual-processor (2P) servers,
excluding the use of buffered memory/registered memory DIMM modules, and a server
motherboard, the current setup includes two Athlon 64 FX-70 series processors and a special
motherboard.[citation needed] AMD pushed the platform for the surging demands for what AMD calls
"megatasking",[112] the ability to do more tasks on a single system. The platform refreshes with the
introduction ofPhenom FX processors and the next-generation RD790 chipset, codenamed
"FASN8".
Server platform[edit]
AMD's first multi-processor server platform, codenamed Fiorano, consists of AMD SR5690 +
SP5100 server chipsets, supporting 45 nm, codenamed Shanghai Socket F+ processors and
registered DDR2 memory. It was followed by theMaranello platform supporting 45 nm,
codenamed Istanbul, Socket G34 processors with DDR3 memory. On single-processor platform, the
codenamed Catalunya platform consists of codenamed Suzuka 45 nm quad-core processor
withAMD SR5580 + SP5100 chipset and DDR3 support.[113][dead link]
AMD's x86 virtualization extension to the 64-bit x86 architecture is named AMD Virtualization, also
known by the abbreviationAMD-V, and is sometimes referred to by the code name "Pacifica". AMD
processors using Socket AM2, Socket S1, andSocket F include AMD Virtualization support. AMD
Virtualization is also supported by release two (8200, 2200 and 1200 series) of the Opteron
processors. The third generation (8300 and 2300 series) of Opteron processors will see an update in
virtualization technology, specifically the Rapid Virtualization Indexing (also known by the
development name Nested Page Tables), alongside the tagged TLB and Device Exclusion Vector
(DEV).
AMD also promotes the "AMD I/O Virtualization Technology" (also known as IOMMU) for I/O
virtualization.[114] The AMD IOMMU specification has been updated to version 1.2. [115] The specification
describes the use of a HyperTransportarchitecture.
AMD's server initiatives include the following:

 AMD Trinity, provides support for virtualization, security and management. Key features
include AMD-V technology, codenamed Presidio trusted computing platform technology, I/O
Virtualization and Open Management Partition. [116]
 AMD Raiden, future clients similar to the Jack PC[117] to be connected through network to a
blade server for central management, to reduce client form factor sizes with AMD Trinity
features.
 Torrenza, coprocessors support through interconnects such as HyperTransport, and PCI
Express (though more focus was at HyperTransport enabled coprocessors), also opening
processor socket architecture to other manufacturers, Sunand IBM are among the supporting
consortium, with rumoured POWER7 processors would be socket-compatible to future Opteron
processors. The move made rival Intel respond with the opening of Front Side Bus (FSB)
architecture as well as Geneseo,[118] a collaboration project with IBM for coprocessors connected
through PCI Express.
 Various certified systems programs and platforms: AMD Commercial Stable Image
Platform (CSIP), together with AMD Validated Server program, AMD True Server Solutions,
AMD Thermally Tested Barebones Platforms and AMD Validated Server Program, providing
certified systems for business from AMD.
Desktop platforms[edit]
Starting in 2007, AMD, following Intel, began using codenames for its desktop platforms such
as Spider or Dragon. The platforms, unlike Intel's approach, will refresh every year, putting focus on
platform specialization. The platform includes components such as AMD processors, chipsets, ATI
graphics and other features, but continued to the open platform approach, and welcome components
from other vendors such as VIA, SiS, and Nvidia, as well as wireless product vendors.
Updates to the platform includes the implementation of IOMMU I/O Virtualization with 45
nm generation of processors, and the AMD 800 chipset series in 2009.[119]
Embedded systems[edit]
Main articles: Alchemy (processor) and Geode (processor)
In February 2002, AMD acquired Alchemy Semiconductor for its Alchemy line of MIPS processors
for the hand-held andportable media player markets. On June 13, 2006, AMD officially announced
that the line was to be transferred to Raza Microelectronics, Inc., a designer of MIPS processors for
embedded applications.[120]
In August 2003, AMD also purchased the Geode business which was originally
the Cyrix MediaGX from National Semiconductor to augment its existing line of embedded x86
processor products. During the second quarter of 2004, it launched new low-power Geode NX
processors based on the K7 Thoroughbred architecture with speeds of fanless processors 667
MHz and 1 GHz, and 1.4 GHz processor with fan, of TDP 25 W. This technology is used in a variety
of embedded systems (Casino slot machines and customer kiosks for instance),
several UMPC designs in Asia markets, as well as the OLPC XO-1 computer, an inexpensive laptop
computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world. The Geode
LX processor was announced in 2005 and is said will continue to be available through 2015.
For the past couple of years AMD has been introducing 64-bit processors into its embedded product
line starting with the AMD Opteron processor. Leveraging the high throughput enabled
through HyperTransport and the Direct Connect Architecture these server class processors have
been targeted at high end telecom and storage applications. In 2007 AMD added the AMD Athlon,
AMD Turion and Mobile AMD Sempron processors to its embedded product line. Leveraging the
same 64-bit instruction set and Direct Connect Architecture as the AMD Opteron but at lower power
levels, these processors were well suited to a variety of traditional embedded applications.
Throughout 2007 and into 2008 AMD has continued to add both single-core Mobile AMD Sempron
and AMD Athlon processors and dual-core AMD Athlon X2 and AMD Turion processors to its
embedded product line and now offers embedded 64-bit solutions starting with 8W TDP Mobile AMD
Sempron and AMD Athlon processors for fan-less designs up to multi-processor systems leveraging
multi-core AMD Opteron processors all supporting longer than standard availability. [121]
The ATI acquisition included the Imageon and Xilleon product lines. In late 2008, the entire handheld
division was sold off toQualcomm, who have since produced the Adreno series. The Xilleon division
was sold to Broadcom.
In April 2007, AMD announced the release of the M690T integrated graphics chipset for embedded
designs. This enabled AMD to offer complete processor and chipset solutions targeted at embedded
applications requiring high performance 3D and video such as emerging digital signage, kiosk and
Point of Sale applications. The M690T was followed by the M690Especifically for embedded
applications which removed the TV output, which required Macrovision licensing for OEMs, and
enabled native support for dual TMDS outputs, enabling dual independent DVI interfaces.
In 2008, AMD announced the Radeon E2400, the first discrete GPU in their embedded product line
offering the same long term availability as their other embedded products. That was followed in 2009
with the higher performance Radeon E4690 discrete GPU.
In 2009, AMD announced their first BGA packaged e64 architecture processors, known as the ASB1
family.
In 2010, AMD announced a second generation BGA platform referred to as ASB2. They also
announced several new AM3 based processors with support for DDR3 memory.
In January 2011, AMD Announced the AMD Embedded G-Series Accelerated Processing Unit. The
first Fusion family APU for embedded applications. This announcement was followed by
announcements for the high performance AMD Radeon E6760 and the value-conscious Radeon
E6460 discrete GPUs. These solutions all added support for DirectX 11, OpenGL4.1
and OpenCL 1.1.
In May 2012, AMD Announced the AMD Embedded R-Series [122] Accelerated Processing Unit. This
family of products incorporates the Bulldozer CPU architecture, and Discrete-class AMD Radeon™
HD 7000G Series graphics.
AMD Embedded solutions offer 5+ year product life.
Other initiatives[edit]
 50x15, digital inclusion, with targeted 50% of world population to be connected through
Internet via affordable computers by the year of 2015.
 The Green Grid,[123] founded by AMD together with other founders, such
as IBM, Sun and Microsoft, to seek lower power consumption for grids.
 Codenamed SIMFIRE – interoperability testing tool for the Desktop and mobile Architecture
for System Hardware (DASH) open architecture.
Software[edit]

 AMD develops the AMD CodeXL tool suite which includes a GPU debugger, a GPU profiler,
a CPU profiler and an OpenCL static kernel analyzer. CodeXL is freely available at AMD
developer tools website.

 AMD Stream SDK and AMD APP SDK (Accelerated Parallel Processing) SDK to enable

AMD graphics processing cores (GPU), working in concert with the system’s x86 cores (CPU),
to execute heterogeneously to accelerate many applications beyond just graphics [124]

 AMD has also taken an active part in developing coreboot, and open source projects aimed
at replacing the proprietary BIOS firmware.

 Other AMD software includes the AMD Core Math Library, and open-source software
including the AMD Performance Library, and the CodeAnalyst performance profiler.

 AMD contributes to open source projects, including working with Sun Microsystems to

enhance OpenSolaris and Sun xVM on the AMD platform.[125] AMD also maintains its
own Open64 compiler distribution and contributes its changes back to the community. [126]

 In 2008, AMD released the low-level programming specifications for its GPUs, and works
with the X.Org Foundation to develop drivers for AMD graphics cards.[127][128]

 Extensions for software parallelism (xSP), aimed at speeding up programs to enable multi-
threaded and multi-core processing, announced in Technology Analyst Day 2007. One of the
initiatives being discussed since August 2007 is the Light Weight Profiling (LWP), providing
internal hardware monitor with runtimes, to observe information about executing process and
help the re-design of software to be optimized with multi-core and even multi-threaded
programs. Another one is the extension of Streaming SIMD Extension (SSE) instruction set,
the SSE5.

Production and fabrication[edit]

Main article: GlobalFoundries
Ever since the spin-off of AMD's fabrication plants in early 2009, GlobalFoundries has been
responsible for producing AMD's processors.
GlobalFoundries' main microprocessor manufacturing facilities are located in Dresden, Germany.
Additionally, highly integrated microprocessors are manufactured in Taiwan made by third-party
manufacturers under strict license from AMD. Between 2003 and 2005, they constructed a second
manufacturing plant (300 mm 90 nm process SOI) in the same complex in order to increase the
number of chips they could produce, thus becoming more competitive with Intel. The new plant was
named "Fab 36", in recognition of AMD's 36 years of operation, and reached full production in mid-
2007. Fab 36 was renamed to "Fab 1" during the spin-off of AMD's manufacturing business during
the creation of GlobalFoundries. In July 2007, AMD announced that they completed the conversion
of Fab 1 Module 1 from 90 nm to 65 nm. They then shifted their focus to the 45 nm conversion.[129]

Corporate affairs[edit]
Partnerships[edit]
AMD utilizes strategic industry partnerships to further its business interests as well as to rival Intel's
dominance and resources.
A partnership between AMD and Alpha Processor Inc. developed HyperTransport, a point-to-point
interconnect standard which was turned over to an industry standards body for finalization. It is now
used in modern motherboards that are compatible with AMD processors.
AMD also formed a strategic partnership with IBM, under which AMD gained silicon on
insulator (SOI) manufacturing technology, and detailed advice on 90 nm implementation. AMD
announced that the partnership would extend to 2011 for 32 nm and 22 nm fabrication-related
technologies.[130]
To facilitate processor distribution and sales, AMD is loosely partnered with end-user companies,
such as HP, Compaq,ASUS, Acer, and Dell.
In 1993, AMD established a 50-50 partnership with Fujitsu called FASL, and merged into a new
company called FASL LLC in 2003. The joint venture went public under the name Spansion and
ticker symbol SPSN in December 2005, with AMD shares drop to 37%. AMD no longer directly
participates in the Flash memory devices market now as AMD entered into a non-competition
agreement, as of December 21, 2005, with Fujitsu and Spansion, pursuant to which it agreed not to
directly or indirectly engage in a business that manufactures or supplies standalone semiconductor
devices (including single chip, multiple chip or system devices) containing only Flash memory. [131]
On May 18, 2006, Dell announced that it would roll out new servers based on AMD's Opteron chips
by year's end, thus ending an exclusive relationship with Intel. In September 2006, Dell began
offering AMD Athlon X2 chips in their desktop line-up.
Since 2002, AMD has been a sponsor of the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro F1 Team. Since 2004, AMD
has been a sponsor of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. In 2009, AMD became the jersey
sponsor of the USL expansion team Austin Aztex FC.
In June 2011, HP announced new business and consumer notebooks equipped with the latest
versions of AMD APUs – accelerated processing units. AMD will power HP's Intel-based business
notebooks as well.[132]
In the spring of 2013, AMD announced that it would be powering all three major next-generation
consoles.[133] The Xbox Oneand Sony PlayStation 4 are both powered by a custom-built AMD APU,
and the Nintendo Wii U is powered by an AMD GPU.[134] According to AMD, having their processors
in all three of these consoles will greatly assist developers with cross-platform development to
competing consoles and PCs as well as increased support for their products across the board. [135]
Litigation with Intel[edit]
See also: AMD v. Intel
AMD has a long history of litigation with former partner and x86 creator Intel.[136][137][138]

 In 1986 Intel broke an agreement it had with AMD to allow them to produce Intel's micro-
chips for IBM; AMD filed forarbitration in 1987 and the arbitrator decided in AMD's favor in 1992.
Intel disputed this, and the case ended up in theSupreme Court of California. In 1994, that court
upheld the arbitrator's decision and awarded damages for breach of contract.
 In 1990, Intel brought a copyright infringement action alleging illegal use of its 287
microcode. The case ended in 1994 with a jury finding for AMD and its right to use Intel's
microcode in its microprocessors through the 486 generation.
 In 1997, Intel filed suit against AMD and Cyrix Corp. for misuse of the term MMX. AMD and
Intel settled, with AMD acknowledging MMX as a trademark owned by Intel, and with Intel
granting AMD rights to market the AMD K6 MMX processor.
 In 2005, following an investigation, the Japan Federal Trade Commission found Intel guilty
on a number of violations. On June 27, 2005, AMD won an antitrust suit against Intel in Japan,
and on the same day, AMD filed a broad antitrust complaint against Intel in the U.S. Federal
District Court in Delaware. The complaint alleges systematic use of secret rebates, special
discounts, threats, and other means used by Intel to lock AMD processors out of the global
market. Since the start of this action, the court has issued subpoenas to major computer
manufacturers including Acer, Dell,Lenovo, HP and Toshiba.
 In November 2009, Intel agreed to pay AMD $1.25bn and renew a five-year patent cross-
licensing agreement as part of a deal to settle all outstanding legal disputes between them. [139]
Events and publications[edit]
Although AMD frequently refuses to provide information about upcoming products and plans, it does
hold annual Analyst Days to reveal and explain key future technologies, and to present
official technology roadmaps. The event held in mid-year is referred to as "Technology Analyst Day",
with its main focus on upcoming technologies and trends. The end-of-year event is referred to as
"Financial Analyst Day" and focuses on the financial performance of the company through the
previous year.[140]
In addition to these events, AMD also publishes printed media. Publications include the AMD
Accelerate and the discontinued AMDEdge. The AMD Accelerate magazine, originally published
through Ziff Davis Media, focuses on SME and business applications, while AMD Edge focused on
overall technologies from AMD. Since Ziff Davis Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection,
the AMD Accelerate magazine has been published through IDG. AMD also has
electronicnewsletters to promote its server-oriented Opteron processors and related business
solutions.
Guinness World Record Achievement[edit]
On August 31, 2011, in Austin, Texas, AMD achieved a Guinness World Record for the "Highest
frequency of a computer processor": 8.429 GHz.[141] The company ran an 8-core FX-8150 processor
with only one active module (two cores), and cooled with liquid helium. [142] The previous record was
8.308 GHz, with an Intel Celeron 352 (one core).
On November 1, 2011, geek.com reported that Andre Yang, an overclocker from Taiwan, used an
FX-8150 to set another record: 8.461 GHz.[143]
Corporate social responsibility[edit]
In its 2012 report on progress relating to conflict minerals, the Enough Project rated AMD the fifth
most progressive of 24 consumer electronics companies. [144]

See also[edit]
San Francisco Bay Area portal

Companies portal

 Bill Gaede
 3DNow!
 Cool'n'Quiet
 PowerNow!
 Semiconductor sales leaders by year
 Comparison of AMD Chipsets
 Comparison of AMD graphics processing units
 Comparison of ATI Chipsets
 Comparison of AMD Processors

References[edit]
 Rodengen, Jeffrey L. The Spirit of AMD: Advanced Micro Devices. Write Stuff, 1998.
 Ruiz, Hector. Slingshot: AMD's Fight to Free an Industry from the