Company Overview

Marketing pro Jerry Sanders founded Advanced Micro Devices in 1969 after being fired from Fairchild Camera and Instrument, as the story goes, for wearing a pink shirt on a sales call to IBM. Together with seven of his friends, Sanders formed the new company around products based on chip designs licensed from other companies.

AMD went public in 1972, and was developing its own chips by the mid-’80s. In 1987, AMD sued top rival Intel for breaking a 1982 agreement that allowed AMD to second-source Intel’s 386 chips. Intel, in turn, countersued for copyright infringement when AMD released versions of its 287 math coprocessor (CHIP?), 386 chip, and 486 chip. A federal jury decided in AMD’s favor, and the two companies settled their legal differences by the mid-’90s, however they remain archrivals today.
In 1993, AMD joined with Fujitsu in a partnership that has now lasted for more than 15 years to create flash memory devices. In 1996, the company bought microprocessor developer NexGen Microsystems, and used the newly acquired technology in its new K6 chip. The company restructured its programmable logic chip unit into a new subsidiary, which it named Vantis, the same year. Later, it sold Vantis to Lattice Semiconductor in 1999 for about $500 million.

Hector Ruiz, one-time head of Motorola’s semiconductor business, was named president and COO of AMD early in 2000, and later became chairman of the board when Sanders retired. Also in 2000, the company sold 90 percent of its communications circuits business to Francisco Partners for $375 million. Increased sales and a worldwide shortage of flash memory helped the company turn a large profit, but in the next year, AMD closed two chip plants in Texas and cut 2,300 jobs, about 15 percent of its total workforce.

AMD paired up again with Fujitsu in 2003 to create a separate company focused on its flash memory business. Originally called FASL, the new company was later renamed Spansion. Later that year, AMD started construction new wafer fabrication plant (called a “fab”) in Germany.

In 2006, the company acquired ATI Technologies for an estimated $5.4 billion in cash and stock. With the purchase, AMD gained control of a broader range of products and technologies to help it compete against Intel. It now plans to release an integrated new processor design named Fusion in late 2008 or early 2009. The Fusion chips are a mash-up of ATI’s and AMD’s technologies, and will be compatible with AMD’s other processors.