Profile: Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.N)

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), incorporated on May 1, 1969, is a global semiconductor company with facilities globally. Within the global semiconductor industry, it offers x86 microprocessors, as standalone devices or as incorporated as an accelerated processing unit, for the commercial and consumer markets, embedded microprocessors for commercial, commercial client and consumer markets and chipsets for desktop and mobile devices, including mobile personal computers (PCs), and tablets, professional workstations and servers, and graphics, video and multimedia products for desktop and mobile devices, including mobile PCs and tablets, home media PCs and professional workstations, servers and technology for game consoles. The Company operates in two segments: the Computing Solutions segment, which includes microprocessors, as standalone devices or as incorporated as an accelerated processing unit (APU), chipsets, and embedded microprocessors, embedded graphics processing units (GPUs) and related revenue, and the Graphics segment, which includes graphics, video and multimedia products and related revenue, as well as revenue received in connection with the development and sale of game console systems, which incorporates its graphics technology. In March 2012, the Company acquired SeaMicro Inc.

Computing Solutions

The Company’s AMD APU, combines its central processing unit (CPU) and GPU onto a single piece of silicon. The designs, develops and sells microprocessor products for servers, desktop PCs and mobile devices, including mobile PCs and tablets. Its microprocessors and chipsets are incorporated into computing platforms, which also include GPUs and core software to enable and advance the computing components. Its CPUs and APUs are manufactured using 45-nanometer, 40nanometer, and 32nanometer process technology. It bases its microprocessors and chipsets on the x86 instruction set architecture and AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture, which connects an on-chip memory controller and input/output (I/O), channels directly to one or more microprocessor cores. It integrates two or more processor cores onto a single die, and each core has its own dedicated cache, which is memory that is located on the semiconductor die, permitting quicker access to frequently used data and instructions. Its microprocessors also have additional levels of cache, such as L2, or second level cache, and L3, or third level cache.

The Company designs its CPUs and APUs to be compatible with operating system software, such as the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems, Linux, NetWare, Solaris and UNIX. Its CPUs and chipsets support multiple generations of HyperTransport technology, which is a communications interface. Its AMD family of APUs deliver serial, parallel and visual compute capabilities for high definition (HD) video, three dimensional (3D) and data-intensive workloads in the APU. It designs its APUs for visual computing, security, performance-per-watt and smaller device form factors. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company launched the AMD Opteron 6200 series processor, codenamed Interlagos, and AMD Opteron 4200 series processor, codenamed Valencia, its microprocessors for server platforms, which consist of 8-, 12- and 16-core versions and are based on it x86 Bulldozer architecture. Its AMD Opteron 6200 series processor handles multi-threaded workloads, such as cloud computing, virtualization, high performance computing (HPC), databases and business application.

The Company’s APUs for mobile PC platforms consist of its performance, mainstream A-Series APU, codenamed Llano, the E-Series APU for mainstream, Zacate; the C-Series APU for HD Internet experiences, codenamed Ontario, and the Z-Series APU for Windows-based tablets, codenamed Desna. Its APUs for mobile platforms combine discrete-level graphics, HD video processing and multi-core CPU processors on a single die.

The Company’s CPUs for mobile PC platforms consist of the AMD Phenom II Dual-Core Mobile Processor, AMD Phenom II Triple-Core, AMD Phenom II Quad-Core Mobile Processor, AMD Turion X2 Mobile Processor, AMD Turion II Mobile Processor, AMD Turion II Ultra Mobile Processor, AMD Turion Neo X2 Mobile Processor, AMD Athlon II processor, AMD Athlon II Neo processor, AMD Athlon Neo X2 Dual-Core processor and the Mobile AMD Sempron processor. The Company’s APUs for desktop PC platforms consists of the AMD A Series Llano APU and the E-Series Zacate APU. The desktop A-Series APU was designed for mainstream desktop platforms and comes in quad-, triple- and dual-core versions. It designed the desktop E-Series APUs for all-in-ones, or desktop computers, which combine the APU or CPU with the monitor, and small form factor desktop PCs. Its CPUs for desktop PC platforms consist of AMD FX processors based on the Bulldozer x86 multi-core architecture, which are available with eight-, six- and quad- core versions, AMD Phenom II processors, which are available with six-, quad-, triple- and dual- core technology, AMD Athlon II processors, which are available in quad-, triple- and dual- core versions, and AMD Sempron processors.

Customers of the Company’s embedded products include vendors in industrial controls, digital signage, point of sale/self-service kiosks, medical imaging, set-top box and casino gaming machines, as well as enterprise class telecommunications, networking, security, storage systems and thin-clients, or computers, which serve as an access device on a network. Its embedded platforms include options from the AMD Opteron, AMD Athlon, AMD Turion, and AMD Sempron processor families; the AMD Embedded G-Series, which is the embedded version of its APUs; the AMD Radeon graphics processor family, and AMD chipsets. During 2011, it introduced the AMD Radeon E6760 embedded discrete graphics processor, which offers embedded system designers the combination of OpenCL, and AMD Eyefinity-enhanced support. AMD Eyefinity allows a game to be played across multiple screens in a panoramic view. APU architecture replaces an integrated graphics processor (IGP) -type chipset with an AMD Fusion Controller Hub chip, which performs the input and output functions of the chipset. In During 2011, it launched its 9-Series Chipsets.

Graphics

The Company develops its products for use in desktop and mobile PCs, professional workstations, servers and gaming consoles. With each of its graphics products, it provides drivers and supporting software packages, which enable the use of these products under a range of operating systems and applications. In addition, its recent generation graphics products have Linux driver support. The Company’s APU is a heterogeneous system, which incorporates Microsoft DirectX 11 (DirectX 11) discrete level GPU capabilities for graphics processing and other computations on data sets, to handle visual tasks, such as 3D rendering, as well as certain fixed functions. With its APUs, it offers discrete level GPU performance at value and mainstream price points. In addition, a mainstream APU, when paired with an AMD discrete GPU, in multi-GPU configuration enable parallel processing.

The Company’s discrete GPUs for desktop PCs include the AMD Radeon HD 7000 series, AMD Radeon HD 6000 series, ATI Radeon HD 5000 series, ATI Radeon HD 4000 series and ATI Radeon HD 3000 series. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company introduced AMD Radeon HD 7970, AMD Radeon HD 7950, AMD Radeon HD 6670, Radeon HD 6570 and Radeon HD 6450 graphic cards. Its discrete GPUs for mobile PCs include AMD Radeon HD 6000M series, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 series and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000 series. In January 2012, it launched the AMD Radeon HD 7000M series, which AMD Dynamic Switchable Graphics Technology, AMD Vari-Bright technology and AMD PowerPlay technology. It designed AMD Dynamic Switchable Graphics Technology to engage discrete GPUs only when needed and use energy efficient built-in graphics capabilities the rest of the time. With AMD Vari-Bright technology, battery life can be enhanced by optimizing the brightness of the display to save power. AMD PowerPlay technology is a combination of hardware and software power management components designed to configure the GPU for minimal power consumption.

The Company’s AMD FirePro family of professional graphics products consist of 3D and two dimensional (2D) multi-view graphics cards and GPUs, which it designed for integration in mobile and desktop workstations, as well as business PCs. It designed its AMD FirePro 3D graphics cards for applications, such as those found in the computer aided design (CAD) and digital content creation (DCC) markets. Its AMD FirePro 2D graphics cards with dual and quad display outputs are designed for financial, corporate, and command and control environments. It also provides graphics products for the server market, such as the AMD FirePro V7800P and the AMD Fire Pro V9800P. Through its ATI CrossFire Pro, it enables CAD and DCC professionals to connect two identical AMD FirePro 3D graphics cards with a flex cable connection. During 2011, it introduced AMD FirePro 2270; ATI FirePro V5800 DVI; AMD FirePro V5900; AMD FirePro V7900, designed for professionals in the medical, financial, design and engineering fields who require the ability to view and interact with multiple applications simultaneously; AMD FirePro V7800P for server and data center environments, and AMD FirePro V4900 designed for DCC and CAD professionals at an entry-level price point. It leverages its core visual processing technology into the game console market by licensing GPUs for graphics in videogame consoles, such as the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.

The Company competes with ARM Ltd., Intel Corporation and Nvidia Corporation.