A Report on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

Submitted by:
Class Room : CR 4
Abhick Paul
Aritra Dutta
Somrick Guha
Souvik Kumar Das

Submitted To : Prof. Aravind Panicker

Batch 2013-2015

A
 Acknowledgement

We would like to thank all the persons who were directly or indirectly involved in
completing this report.
We are very grateful to our seniors, who guided us in making this report.
And last but not the least our teacher Prof. Aravind Panicker for the insights he gave us
regarding the subjects.

B
 Declaration

We , the undersigned students, hereby declare that this project on “Report on AMD”, is
original and bonafide work carried out by us.
The empirical findings in this report are based on the data collected and have not been
taken or copied from any other reports or source.

Names:
Abhick Paul ____________________________
Aritra Dutta ____________________________
Somrick Guha ____________________________
Souvik Kumar Das ____________________________

Date: 5th December, 2013.

Place: Ahmedabad.

C
 INDEX
Serial Page
No. Topic No.
1 Title A
2 Acknowledgement B
3 Declaration C
4 AMD- Introduction 1
5 Corporate History 2
6 Processor Market History 3
7 Products and Technologies 7
8 Production and Fabrication 13
9 Segment, Target Group and Positioning 13
10 Corporate Affairs 13
11 Competitors 14
12 AMD Financial Reports 19
13 Porters Five Forces Model 27
Strengths, Weakness, Threats and
14 Opportunities(SWOT) 28
15 Milestones, Awards and Accolades 28
16 Events and Publication 29
17 Conclusion 29
18 Recommendations or Suggestions 30

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Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

The future is fusion

Type Public

Traded as NYSE: AMD

Industry Semiconductors

Founded May 1, 1969

Founder(s) Jerry Sanders

Edwin Turney
Additional co-founders

Headquarters One AMD Place,

Sunnyvale, California, United States

Area served Worldwide

Key people Rory Read (CEO)

Bruce Claflin (Executive Chairman)

Products Microprocessors
Motherboard chipsets
Graphics processing units
Random-access memory
TV tuner cards

Revenue $1.46 billion (Q3 2013)

Operating income $95 million (Q3 2013)

Net income $48 million (Q3 2013)

Total assets $4.3 billion (Q3 2013)

Total equity $4.3 billion (Q3 2013)

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AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc is an American multinational semiconductor company based in
Sunnyvale, California, United States, that develops computer processors and related
technologies for commercial 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, and embedded processors and
graphics processors for servers, workstations and personal computers, and embedded system
applications.

AMD is the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors based on the x86 architecture
and also one of the largest suppliers of graphics processing units. It also owns 8.6% of
Spansion, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory.

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.

Employees 10,340 (2012)

Divisions SeaMicro

Website amd.com

Corporate History
Advanced Micro Devices was founded on May 1, 1969, by a group of former executives
from Fairchild Semiconductor, including Jerry Sanders III, Ed Turney, John Carey, Sven
Simonsen, Jack Gifford and three members from Gifford’s team, Frank Bolte, Jim Giles, and
Larry Stenger. The company began as a producer of logic chips, then entered the RAM chip
business in 1975. That same year, it introduced a reverse-gineered clone of the Intel 8080
microprocessor. During this period, AMD also designed and produced a series of bit-slice
processor elements (AM2900, AM29116 and AM293xx) which were used in various
minicomputer designs.

During this time, AMD attempted to embrace the perceived shift towards RISC with their
own AMD AM29000 (29k) processor, and also attempted to diversify into graphics and audio
devices as well as EPROM memory. It had some success in the mid-1980s with the
AMD7910 and AMD 7911 “World Chip” FSK modem, one of the first multistandard devices
that covered both Bell and CCITT tones at up to 1200 baud half duplex or 300/300 full
duplex. The 29k survived as an embedded processor and AMD spinoff Spansion continues to

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make flash memory. AMD decided to switch gears and concentrate solely on Intel-
compatible microprocessors and flash memory, placing them in direct competition with Intel
for x86-compatible processors and flash memory, placing them in direct competition with
Intel for x86-compatible processors and their flash memory secondary markets.

AMD announced the acquisition of ATI Technologies on July 24, 2006 AMD paid $4.3
billion in cash and 58million shares of its stock, for a total of US $5.4 billion. The transation
completed on October 25, 2006. Since 2010, all of the company’s graphics processing
products have been marketed under the AMD brand name.

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 graphic card industry, including the act of fixing prices.

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 Global
Foundries Inc. This partnership is will allow AMD to focus solely on chip design. The spin
off was accompanied by the loss of approximately 1000 jobs, or about 10% of AMD’s global
workforce.

In August 2011, AMD announced that former Lenovo executive Rory Read would be joining
the company as CEO, following Dirk Meyer.

To secure cost savings and support workforce revisions focused on the development of low
power computing hardware, AMD announced in November 2011 plans to lay off more than
10% (1400) of its employees from across all divisions worldwide. This action was to have
completed by Q1 2012 with most exits before Christmas 2011. AMD announced in October
2012, plans to release an additional 15% of its workforce with an unspecified effective date to
reduce costs in the face of declining sales revenue.

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.

Processor Market History

IBM PC and the x86 architecture
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 agreement, but Intel cancelled the agreement in1986
and refused to convey technical details of the i386 part. AMD challenged Intel’s decision to
cancel the agreement and won in arbitration, but Intel disputed this decision. A long deal
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

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Intel’s of Intel’s microcode. In the face of uncertainity, AMD was forced to develop clean
room designed versions off 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 AM-5x86, 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 Semprom

AMD’s first in-house x86 processor was the K5, which was launched in 1996. 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 automorphization of them as
Superman. The numersl “5” efers to the fifth processor generation, which Intel introduced as
Pentium, because the US Trademark and Patent Office ruled that mere numbers could not be
trademarked.

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,
introduce in 1997. Although the K^ was based on Socket 7, variants such 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. The Duron 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. Semprom was released
as a lower-cost Athlon XP, replacing Duron in the socket A PGA era. It has 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.

Athlon 64, Opteron and Phenom

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
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on April 22, 2003. Shortly thereafter it was incorporated into a product for desktop PCs,
branded Athlon 64.

On April 21, 2005, AMD released the first dual core Opteron, an x86-based server CPU. A
month later, AMD released the Athlon 64 X@, the first desktop based dual core processor
family. In early May 2007, AMD had abandoned the string “64” in its dual-core desktop
product branding, becoming Athlon X2, downplaying the significance of 64-bit computing in
its processors. Upcoming updates involved some of the 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 desktop Semprom
processors exclusively in China, branded as the Semprom 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. On September 10, 2007, AMD released the first K10 processors: nine
quad core Third Generation Opteron processors. This was followed by the Phenom processor
for desktop. K10 processors came in dual-core, triple-core, 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 45nm 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 low clock speed, a small L3 cache and a Cool ‘n’ Quiet bug that decreased
performance. The Phenom IIwas price and performance-competitive with Intel’s mid-to-high
–range Core 2 Quads. The Phenom II also enhanced the Phenom’s memory controller,
allowing the use of the DDR3 in a new native socket AM3, while maintaining backwards
computability 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 family) GPU series.

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 came in 4 and 6 core parts. Magny Cours is focused
on high performance per watt. Magny Cours is an MCM (Multi-Chip Module) with two

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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 45nm SOI process.

Fusion, Bobcat, Buldozer, Vishera and Hondo

After the merger between AMD and ATI, and initiative codenamed Fusion was announced
that will 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 will
see some of the processing originally done on the CPU (e.g. floating-point unit operations)
moved to the GPU, which is better optimized for calculations such as floating-point unit
calculations. This is referred to by AMD as an acccelarated processing unit (APU).

Llano is to be the second APU released, targeted at the mainstream market. This will
incorporate a CPU and GPU on the same die, as well as the northbridge functions, and
labelled on AMD’s new timeline as using “Socket FM1” with DDR3 memory. This will,
however, not based on the new bulldozer core and will in facr 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.

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. The core is
specifically aimed at 10-125 watt TDP computing products. AMD claims dramatic
performance-per-watt efficiency improvements in high-performance computing (HPC)
applications with Bulldozer cores.

Hondo is AMD’s latest processor series in Tablet computers.

Vishera is an AMD former processor series.

Llano was AMD’s first APU built for laptops.

Jaguar is the latest x86 processor core from AMD aimed at low-power/low-cost market.

Jaguar’s predecessor, Bobcat, was revealed during a speech from AMD executive vice-
president Henri Richard in Computex 2007 and was put into production Q1 2011. One of the
major supporters was executive vice-president Mario A. Rivas who felt it was difficult to
compete in the x 86 markets with a single core with 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.

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ARM architecture-based chip
AMD intends to release 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. The ARM architecture is codenamed “Seattle” and will be 64bit ARM
processors, based on the Cortex A57 core design (ARM v8), 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.

Products and technologies

Graphics products
AMD's portfolio of dedicated graphics processors includes product families and associated
technologies aimed at the consumer, professional and high-performance computing markets.

Radeon is AMD's line of consumer 3D accelerator add-in cards. Mobility Radeon is a series
of power-optimized versions of Radeon graphics chips for use in laptops. They introduced
innovations such as modularized RAM chips, DVD (MPEG2) acceleration, notebook GPU
card sockets, and power management technology. AMD recently announced DirectX 11.1-
compatible versions of its mobile processors.

FirePro is AMD's line of professional graphics processors for workstations. Based on the
Radeon series, it succeeds the FireGL series of workstation CAD/CAM video cards, and the
FireMV series for workstations with 2D acceleration.

FireStream is a stream processor designed to utilize the stream processing/GPGPU (General

Purpose Graphics Processing Units) concept for heavy floating-point computations to target
various industries, such as the High Performance Computing (HPC), scientific, and financial
sectors. The AMD FireStream can also be used as a floating-point co-processor for offloading
CPU calculations, which is part of the Torrenza initiative.

EyeFinity – Allows up to 6 monitors to be connected to one card to allow surround-screen

panoramic view.

EyeSpeed – Allows to experience games with true-to-life actions-and reactions. Features such
as physics effects, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and more.

AMD Catalyst is a collection of proprietary device drivers software available for most
platforms, including Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux. Linux users can also opt to use
open-source drivers, whose development is assisted by AMD. Hardware component
companies which only provide proprietary drivers have always been urged by the free-
software community to make their drivers free software, or at least provide the necessary
documentation for the community to write their own drivers.

Since 2007, the AMD has partly cooperated with the development of free graphics drivers,
but have not made their Catalyst drivers free. The programming specifications for a number
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of chipsets and features were published in several rounds. This greatly changed their support
of the development of free graphics drivers, as until that moment only unsupported free
drivers existed. Besides releasing the specifications, AMD also funded the development of
new "open source" drivers, and has even hired some employees to actively work on free
software drivers.

AMD chipsets
Before the launch of Athlon 64 processors in 2003, AMD designed chipsets for their
processors spanning the K6 and K7 processor 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 states the firm will 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
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in Fusion processors and AHCI 1.2 with SATA FIS–based switching support. This is a
chipset family supporting Phenom processors and Quad FX enthusiast
platform (890FX), IGP(890GX).

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".

AMD Quad FX platform

The AMD Quad FX platform, being an extreme enthusiast platform, 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. AMD pushed the platform for the surging demands for what AMD calls
"megatasking", the ability to do more tasks on a single system. The platform refreshes with
the introduction of Phenom FX processors and the next-generation RD790 chipset,
codenamed "FASN8".

Commercial platform
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 the Maranello 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 with AMD SR5580 + SP5100 chipset and DDR3 support.

AMD's x86 virtualization extension to the 64-bit x86 architecture is named AMD
Virtualization, also known by the abbreviation AMD-V, and is sometimes referred to by the
code name "Pacifica". AMD processors using Socket AM2, Socket S1, and Socket 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. The AMD IOMMU specification has been updated to version 1.2. The
specification describes the use of a HyperTransport architecture.

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AMD's commercial 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.

AMD Raiden, future clients similar to the Jack PC 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, Sun and 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, 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
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 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 include the implementation of IOMMU I/O Virtualization with 45
nm generations of processors, and the AMD 800 chipset series in 2009.

Embedded systems
In February 2002, AMD acquired Alchemy Semiconductor for its Alchemy line
of MIPS processors for the hand-held and portable 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.

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, and1.4 GHz processor with fan, of TDP 25W. This

10
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.

The ATI acquisition included the Imageon and Xilleon product lines. In late 2008, the entire
handheld division was sold off to Qualcomm, 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 M690E specifically 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 Redeon 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-

11
conscious Radeon E6460 discrete GPUs. These solutions all added support for DirectX
11, OpenGL 4.1 and OpenCL1.1.

In May 2012, AMD Announced the AMD Embedded R-Series 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
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, 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

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 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. AMD also maintains its
own Open64compiler distribution and contributes its changes back to the community.

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.

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.

12
Production and fabrication
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.

Segment, Target Group and Positioning

Segment Enterprise(and end customers)
AMD targets enterprise but indirectly pulls
Target Group the end customer
Reliable and optimum performance oriented
Positioning microprocessors and GPUs

Corporate affairs
Partnerships
AMD utilizes strategic industry partnerships to further its business interests as well as to
tackle 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.

To facilitate processor distribution and sales, AMD is loosely partnered with end-user
companies, such as HP, Compaq, ASUS, Acer and Dell.

13
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.

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.

In the spring of 2013, AMD announced that it would be powering all three major next-
generation consoles. The Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 are both powered by a custom-
built AMD APU, and the Nintendo Wii U is powered by an AMD GPU. 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.

Competitors
Intel
The product line of Intel comprises of:

Microprocessors: The Pentium line, Celeron and Core. Latest innovations include the Core
i7-980X Extreme Edition with 6 physical and 12 logical cores. Servers: Intel has chipsets,
motherboards, software, memory and many more solutions for servers.

Motherboards: Intel Serverseries and Intel Workstation series for servers and the Intel
Desktop board for Desktops. Others: Intel manufacturers many communication and memory
solution equipment and software for Desktops and Notebooks also.

Cost
AMD is said to offer the same basic product at a cheaper price than Intel. Intel is established
as the market leader in producing motherboards and processing chips for personal computers,
and their prices and development have influenced AMD from the start. AMD produced
14
“clones” of Intel products as well as their own line of chip and motherboard development.
The AMD Athlon XP processor runs very close to an Intel 4 processor and is about half the
price. Some price comparisons of similar products by the two companies are listed below:

Intel Core 2 Quad 775

Q6600 / 2.40GHz Socket 775 1066MHz $279.99 Q6600 / 2.40GHz Socket 775 1066MHz
$289.99 Q6700 / 2.66GHz Socket 775 1066MHz $579.99 Q6700 / 2.66GHz Socket 775
1066MHz $579.99

Intel Core 2 Extreme 775

QX6700 / 2.66GHz Socket 775 1066MHz $1059.99 QX6700 / 2.66GHz Socket 775
1066MHz $1059.99 QX6800 / 2.93GHz Socket 775 1066MHz $1069.99 QX6800 / 2.93GHz
Socket 775 1066MHz $1069.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2(AM2)

X2 4000+ / 2.10GHz Socket AM2 1000MHz (2000 MT/s) $69.99 X2 4200+ / 2.20GHz
Socket AM2 1000MHz (2000 MT/s) $82.99 X2 BE-2300 / 1.90GHz Socket AM2 1000MHz
(2000 MT/s) $89.99 X2 4400+ / 2.30GHz Socket AM2 1000MHz (2000 MT/s) $92.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2(939)

X2 3800+ / 2.00GHz Socket 939 1000MHz (2000 MT/s) $59.99 X2 3800+ / 2.00GHz Socket
939 1000MHz (2000 MT/s) $59.99 X2 4200+ / 2.20GHz Socket 939 1000MHz (2000 MT/s)
$69.99

Competition and Market Share

Intel is the inventor of the x86 series of Microprocessors and today both AMD and Intel are
competitors at this. While Intel is said to be the largest producer of x86 based processors in
the world, AMD is number two in it. Intel came out of 2006 with 77.7 per cent of the x86
CPU market, up from 76.3 per cent. Its 1.4 percentage point gain matched a 1.4 percentage
point decline in AMD's x86 market share, which fell from 2005's 23.7 per cent to 22.3 per
cent.

Intel vs AMD (2013)

With the advent of 2013, both the companies decided to go a step further by creating some
amazing processor variants. First, let us have a look at Intel's 2013 launches.

Sandy Bridge-E

Intel came up with the Sandy Bridge-E processor, i7-3970X in Q4:2012. Sandy Bridge-E is
the name for the eight-core processor that is based on the earlier-launched Sandy Bridge

15
microarchitecture. However, out of these eight cores, some cores may be disabled. With this
launch, the die size remained 32nm while the maximum TDP was 150W. The i7-39xx series
had only DMI as their I/O bus with about 5 GT/s. This launch saw the end of the 2012's
launches and made way for the 2013 launches. The main specs of the processor i7-3970X are:

Features Value
Number of Cores 6
Number of Threads 12
Clock Speed 3.5 GHz
Core Size 32nm
TDP 150W
Memory Bandwith 51.2 GB/s

Haswell

The latest from the Intel factory is the Haswell microarchitecture-based processors. This was
launched in June 2013 and was formerly known as Rockwell. This processor has reduced the
die size to 22nm from the previous 32nm. With this launch, Intel has targeted the hybrid or
convertible market by making a low-power processor. The processors with this
microarchitecture are expected to be launched in three segments - Desktop version (Haswell-
DT), Mobile/Laptop version (Haswell-MB), and BGA version (Haswell-H, Haswell-ULT,
Haswell-ULX). The processors based on Haswell are i7-47xx, i5-4670K, i3-43xx, i3-4130,
and Xeon E3- 12xx. The specs for i7-4770K are:

Features Value
Number of Cores 4
Number of Threads 8
Clock Speed 3.5 GHz
Core Size 22nm
TDP 84W
Memory Bandwith 25.6 GB/s

To compete with these processors of Intel, AMD came up with Piledriver in the second
quarter of 2012, Richland in first half of 2013, and Steamroller in the second half of 2013.
Let us take a look at their functionalities.

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Piledriver

The successor to the Bulldozer processors are the Piledriver-based ones. The core size
remained the same as the previous one, i.e., 32nm. The architecture hasn't changed from the
previous one; it has only incremented in its features. The clock rates were increased and so
were the instructions per clock cycle. The power consumption has also reduced due to the
switch over to hard-edge flip-flops. The AMD APU, AMD FX, and Opteron are the
processors that are based on this microarchitecture. The specifications for the AMD FX-8350
are:

Features Value
Number of Cores 8
Number of Threads 8
Clock Speed 4.0 GHz
Core Size 32nm
TDP 125W
Memory Bandwith 19 GB/s

Richland

AMD's answer to the Haswell processors is Richland. Though we cannot say AMD has
exceeded Intel's processing power, this AMD processor surely has an edge over Haswell's
graphics core and is also cheaper. The die size has not changed and remains at 32nm. The
new APUs are backward-compatible with the older motherboards as the sockets haven't
changed. The processor range has four quad-core and one dual-core part. A10 series is based
on this microarchitecture. The specs for A10-6800K are:

Features Value
Number of Cores 4
Number of Threads 4
Clock Speed 4.1 GHz
Core Size 32nm
TDP 100W
Memory Bandwith --

17
Steamroller

The latest offering from AMD has a reduced core size of 28nm which is close to the
Haswell's die size of 22nm. There are some major changes in the architectural aspect of the
processor lines. There is an independent instruction decoder for each of the core equipped
with better instruction schedulers. Along with improved memory controllers and larger
caches, AMD aims to increase the instructions per cycle to 30%. The main aim of building
Streamroller was to achieve greater parallelism with pipelined floating-point (FP) units and
two integer units. Kaveri A-series APU and Berlin APU series are the new line of AMD
processors.

The specs are yet to be released.

AMD Inches Closer to Intel

Well, this list of 2013 launches would be incomplete without a special mention to AMD's
FX-9590 processor. AMD nailed it by launching a 5GHz processor, FX-9590. This is the first
5GHz processor, and it was launched in Los Angeles in June 2013. It is the most powerful
processor to be launched till date. It is a 8-core processor with Piledriver microarchitecture.
The TDP is 220W but AMD seems to not get enough of the die size, which remains the same
as 32nm. The L3 cache is 8MB while there are four 2MB L2 caches. We will have to wait till
Intel launches a competitor processor. Till then, AMD surely has an upper hand this year.

More to Come

As we know, these manufacturers announce their future models well in advance. So, here's a
list of Intel processors that we will see in the near future.

Broadwell - This is the tick version of the Intel processor series. The MCP (Multi-chip
Package) will be used in this version with a 14nm shrink in the die size.

Skylake - This Intel's processor version is expected to be released in 2015 and will retain the
14nm die size.

Skymont - Intel decides to go the extra mile by further shrinking the die size to 10nm by
launching this processor.

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Litigation with Intel
AMD has a long history of litigation with former partner and x86 creator Intel. In 1986 Intel
broke an agreement it had with AMD to allow them to produce Intel's micro-chips for IBM;
AMD filed for arbitration in 1987 and the arbitrator decided in AMD's favour in 1992. Intel
disputed this, and the case ended up in the 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 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 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, AMD has issued subpoenas to major computer manufacturers including
Dell, Microsoft, IBM, HP, Sony, and Toshiba.

AMD Reports 2013 Third Quarter Results

Company returns to profitability with product diversification strategy

Q3 2013 Results

 AMD revenue $1.46 billion, increased 26 percent sequentially and 15 percent year-
over-year
 Gross margin 36 percent
 Operating income of $95 million and non-GAAP1 operating income of $78 million
 Net income of $48 million, earnings per share of $0.06 and non-GAAP1 net income
of $31 million, earnings per share of $0.04

SUNNYVALE, Calif. —10/17/2013

 AMD (NYSE:AMD) announced revenue for the third quarter of 2013 of $1.46 billion,
operating income of $95 million and net income of $48 million, or $0.06 per share.
The company reported non-GAAP operating income of $78 million and non-GAAP
net income of $31 million, or $0.04 per share.
 “AMD returned to profitability and generated free cash flow in the third quarter as we
continued to successfully execute the strategic transformation plan we outlined a year
ago,” said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO. “We achieved 26 percent sequential
revenue growth driven by our semi-custom business and remain committed to
generating approximately 50 percent of revenue from high-growth markets over the

19
 next two years. Developing industry-leading technology remains at our core, and we
are in the middle of a multi-year journey to redefine AMD as a leader across a more
diverse set of growth markets.”

Quarterly Financial Summary

 Gross margin was 36 percent in Q3 2013.

o Gross margin decreased sequentially. Q3 2013 gross margin included a $19
million benefit, approximately 1 percentage point, from the sale of inventory
that had been previously reserved in Q3 2012 as compared to a similar $11
million benefit, approximately 1 percentage point, in Q2 2013.
 Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balance, including long-term
marketable securities, was $1.2 billion at the end of the quarter, slightly above our
targeted optimal level of $1.1 billion.
 Computing Solutions segment revenue decreased 6 percent sequentially and
decreased 15 percent year-over-year. The sequential and year-over-year declines were
due to decreased notebook and chipset unit shipments, partially offset by an increase
in desktop unit shipments.
o Operating income was $22 million, compared with operating income of $2
million in Q2 2013 and an operating loss of $114 million in Q3 2012. The Q3
2012 operating loss included an inventory write-down of approximately $100
million primarily consisting of first generation A-Series accelerated processing
units (APUs).
o Microprocessor Average Selling Price (ASP) was flat sequentially and
decreased year-over-year.
 Graphics and Visual Solutions (GVS) is comprised of graphics processing units
(GPUs), including professional graphics, as well as semi-custom products and
development and game console royalties.
o GVS segment revenue increased 110 percent sequentially and increased 96
percent year-over-year driven largely by our semi-custom business. GPU
revenue declined sequentially and year-over-year. In the third quarter
customers began transitioning to our new products late in the quarter.
o Operating income was $79 million compared with breakeven in Q2 2013 and
$18 million in Q3 2012.

20
 o GPU ASP decreased sequentially and year-over-year.

Current Outlook

 AMD’s outlook statements are based on current expectations. The following

statements are forward-looking, and actual results could differ materially depending
on market conditions and the factors set forth under “Cautionary Statement” below.
 For the fourth quarter of 2013, AMD expects revenue to increase 5 percent, plus or
minus 3 percent, sequentially.

21
22
23
24
1. Computing Solutions segment includes x86 microprocessors, as standalone devices or
as incorporated as an accelerated processing unit (APU), chipsets, embedded
processors and dense servers.
2. Graphics and Visual Solutions segment includes graphics processing units (GPU),
including professional graphics, semi-custom products and technology for fame
consoles.
3. All other category includes certain expenses and credits that are not allocated to any
of the operating segments. Also included in this category are amortization of acquired
intangible assets, employee stock-based compensation expense, net restructuring and
other special charges and a charge related to the limited waiver of exclusivity of
GlobalFoundries.

25
* The Company presents Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure of its performance.
Adjusted EBITDA for the Company is determined by adjusting operating income (loss) for
depreciation and amortization, employee stock-based compensation expense and amortization
of acquired intangible assets. In addition, the Company also included the following
adjustments for the applicable period: for all periods presented , the Company also included
the following adjustments for the applicable period: for all periods presented, the Company
also included an adjustment for net restructuring and other special charges (gains); and for
nine months ended September 29, 2012, the Company also included adjustments for the
limited waiver of exclusivity from GlobalFoundries, legal settlement with a third party and
costs related to the acquisition of SeaMicro, Inc. The Company calculates and communicates
Adjusted EBITDA in the financial schedules because the Company’s management believes it
is of importance to investors and lenders in relation to its overall capital structureand its
ability to borrow additional capital funds. In addition, the Company presents Adjusted
EBITDA because it believes this measure assists investors in comparing its performance
across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding items that the company does not
believe are indicative of its core operating performance. The Company’s calculation of
Adjusted EBITDA may or may not be consistent with the calculation of this measure by other
companies in the same industry. Investors should not view Adjusted EBITDA as an
alternative to the GAAP operating measure of operating income (loss) or GAAP liquidity
measures of cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities. In addition,
Adjusted EBITDA does not take into account changes in certain assets and liabilities as well
as internet and income taxes that can affect cash flows.

** The Company also represents non-GAAP free cash flow in the earnings release as a
supplemental measure of its performance. Non-GAAP free cash flow is determined by
adjusting GAAP net cash provided by (used in) operating activities for capital expenditures.
The Company calculates and communicates non-GAAP free cash flow in the financial
schedules because the company’s management believes it is of importance to investors to

26
understand the nature of these cash flows. The Company’s calculation of non-GAAP free
cash flow may or may not be consistent with the calculation of this measure by other
companies in the same industry. Investors should not view non-GAAP free cash flow as an
alternative to GAAP liquidity measures of cash flows from operating activities. The
Company has provided reconciliations within the press release and financial schedules of
these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial
measures.

Porter’s Five Forces Model

 Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The bargaining power of supplier is weak due to
commoditized nature of generic components that make up processors. Accordingly, if a
supplier raises costs a microprocessor firm has minimal incentive to remain with that
company since there is a minimal switching cost.
 Bargaining Power of Buyers: The bargaining power of the buyer is significant force
due to immediate customer, the original equipment manufacturer (OEMs) such as
DELL, HP and Compaq. To these OEMs adding more microprocessors to their line-up
heightens the complexity of their business by forcing them to increase inventory and
customer support to accommodate the compatibility of the new processors. Hence
OEMs applied pressure by refusing to stock a variety of chips. As a result Intel began
its Intel Inside campaign to try and remove power from the OEMs by making end
customers more aware of the processors inside their PCs thus down streaming the
purchasing power.
 Threat of Substitutes: The substitution force is weak in the microprocessor industry
because the only viable substitutes available in the past were Apple computers and hand
held PCs. Furthermore, both of those potential substitutes have recently been eliminated
for they both now use Intel microprocessors.
 Threat of new entrants: The threat of new entrants is also a strong force due to the
high industry profitability. By the early 1990s Intel’s gross margins for $400 and $700
chips approached 80%. While many firms such as Motorola and Apple attempted to
enter the market but none were successful due to the high barriers to entry that included
large fixed costs, economies of scale and the power of the buyers.
 Rivalry among existing competitors: This is the most important force because there
are two main competitors in the industry: Intel and AMD. The nature of the business
where fixed costs are high and marginal costs are low causes intense pressure for
competitors to cut prices below the market average cost so that they can capture
incremental customers while still covering portions of their fixed costs. These results in
the two firms compete on the same dimension forcing them into a zero-sum game,
where one company’s gains are another’s losses. Both Intel and AMD have attempted
to diversify into other pc component but these products still remain linked to their
microprocessors due to compatibility issues. Hence each firm is highly committed to
being the leader in the microprocessor industry since their profits of other components
are interrelated to microprocessors.

27
 Strengths, Weakness, Threats & Opportunities
(SWOT)
Strengths
 Strong brand in Microprocessor and PC market.
 Strong focus on Research and development capabilities.
 AMD has a global presence.
 AMD operates in GPU (graphical processing unit) and Microprocessor market with
only single competitor in each market, Nvidia and Intel respectively.

Weaknesses
 Weak performance of computing segment due to advent of tablets, handhelds.
 Lack of penetration into mobile market.
 Intense competition means limited scope for capturing huge market share.
 AMD products have a high heating problem which needs to be fixed.

Opportunities
 Innovation for mobile platforms and tablets.
 New product and services expansions.
 Presence in virtualization space.

Threats
 Competition from Intel and Nvidia
 Environmental regulations
 Declining PC shipment

Milestones, Awards and Accolades

AMD announced the AMD Radeon™ R7 and R9 Series graphics cards. Based on the award-
winning Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture, the AMD Radeon R7 Series graphics cards
support AMD’s “Mantle” technology which enables game developers to more easily harness
the full capabilities of the GCN cores across both PCs and consoles2 to offer an unmatched
level of hardware optimization, revolutionary performance and image quality. AMD’s newest
graphics chips also include AMD TrueAudio Technology3, the world’s first fully
programmable audio pipeline on a graphics card.

Verizon announced that its high-performance public cloud with best-in-class reliability is
powered by AMD’s SeaMicro SM15000™servers.

28
As a part of driving the company’s growth in embedded markets, AMD extended its
embedded System-on-a-Chip (SoC) product portfolio with the launch of a new low-power
AMD Embedded G-Series SOC for fanless designs at approximately 3-watts average power.
AMD also detailed its plans to become the first and only company to offer both 64-bit ARM
and x86 embedded solutions starting in 2014.

Toshiba and HP announced new 2-in-1 PCs based on the 2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU.
These innovative designs offer the full Windows 8 touch PC experience in a notebook that
performs equally well as a tablet when desired.

HP announced the new thin and light HP ZBook 14 mobile workstations that rely on AMD
FirePro™ professional graphics.

AMD selected SAPPHIRE Technology to be the exclusive global distribution partner for
AMD FirePro professional graphics, driving stronger support for AMD FirePro professional
graphics by delivering new distribution resources to AMD’s channel ecosystem companies
worldwide.

AMD and Mixamo introduced the world’s first real-time facial capture technology for the
Unity game development platform, enabling developers to capture their facial expressions
through standard webcams and transfer them in real time onto a 3D character.

AMD announced senior leaders from ARM, DICE/Electronic Arts, Imagination

Technologies, Mediatek USA, Oracle, Sony and Unity Technologies will keynote APU13,
the company’s third annual developer conference.

Adobe announced further enhancements to its Adobe® Creative Cloud™ suite to accelerate
the performance and improve the quality of its applications when running on AMD APUs and
discrete GPUs.

AMD was recognized for its excellence in corporate responsibility, making the Dow Jones
Sustainability Index for the ninth consecutive year.

Guinness World Record Achievement

On August 31, 2011, in Austin, Texas, AMD achieved a Guinness World Record for the
"Highest frequency of a computer processor": 8.429 GHz. The company ran an 8-core FX-
8150 processor with only one active module (two cores), and cooled with liquid helium. 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 over clocker from Taiwan,
used an FX-8150 to set another record: 8.461 GHz.

29
Events and publications
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.

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 electronic newsletters to promote its server-
oriented Opteron processors and related business solutions.

Corporate social responsibility

In its 2012 report on progress relating to conflict minerals, the Enough Project rated AMD the
fifth most progressive of 24 consumer electronics companies.

Conclusion
 Delivering higher performance with similar power consumption at a lower price
therefore seems to be AMD score competence.

 Its platforms were offering significant advantages, delivering high performance and
power efficiency

 AMD was also strongly understanding that end-users buying behavior they are not
focusing on performance and hardware specifications, but more on the experience the
machine will enable them to live.

 AMD’s VISION Technology therefore provides improved performance and battery

life, consequently offering higher quality and higher quantity.

30
Recommendations or Suggestions
Taking advantage of its success on the servers’ market with Opteron, AMD leveraged this
success to the two other segments: corporate desktops and notebooks. AMD was also strong
in understanding that end-users’s buying behaviour: they are not focusing on performance
and hardware specifications, but more on the experience the machine will enable them to live.
Thanks to its efficient customer-centric approach, that could be defined as a way of doing
business while focusing on creating a positive customer experience. AMD’s VISION
Technology therefore provides improved performance and battery life, consequently offering
higher quality and higher quantity. It therefore seems that AMD chose to focus on servers
(with a low growth rate) and on Personal Computers with its VISION Technology,
experiencing an interesting growth. But several challenges are actually growing: Tablets like
Ipad do not feature microprocessors, and AMD’s market shares in mobile devices remains
very low. In order to deal with those challenges, several opportunities are to be thought about.
A partnership with the company Oracle, developing hardware and software, seems to be
possible and would enable AMD to benefit from a higher cash flow and Oracle to compete on
the servers’ segment thanks to Opteron11.In order to face those new challenges, AMD also
has to tackle new markets. With its low prices strategy, the company indeed has an
interesting competitive advantage for emerging markets such as China and South America. In
such markets, the equipment rate is still rather low and consumers are very price-focused.
AMD therefore has chances to experience a sharp and rapid growth.

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