Technology news

[Athlon64~SPARTA~]

AMD and Advanced Technology Investment Company of Abu Dhabi to create new leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing company

 

Press release, October 7;

 

AMD and the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) of Abu Dhabi have announced the creation of a US-headquartered, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing company to address growing demand for independent, leading-edge foundry production capabilities. The new global company, to be temporarily called "The Foundry Company", will serve this need by combining advanced process technology, industry-leading manufacturing facilities and aggressive plans to expand its global capacity footprint. At the same time, the Mubadala Development Company will increase its current investment in AMD to 19.3% on a fully diluted basis.

 

AMD will contribute to The Foundry Company its manufacturing facilities, including two fabrication facilities in Dresden, Germany, as well as related assets and intellectual property rights. ATIC will invest US$2.1 billion to purchase its stake in The Foundry Company, of which it will invest US$1.4 billion directly in the new entity and the remainder will be paid to AMD to purchase additional shares in The Foundry Company. The Foundry Company will also assume approximately US$1.2 billion of AMD's existing debt.

 

ATIC has committed additional equity funding to The Foundry Company of a minimum of US$3.6 billion and up to US$6 billion over the next five years to fund the expansion of The Foundry Company's chip-making capacity beyond the manufacturing facilities initially contributed by AMD. These funds will be used by The Foundry Company to (i) proceed with capacity expansion at its fabs in Dresden, Germany, including an upgrade of one of its fabs to a state-of-the-art facility, and (ii) begin construction on a new state-of-the-art facility in Saratoga County, New York, subject to the transfer of previously-approved New York State incentives.

 

The New York facility is expected to create more than 1,400 direct jobs, and, through its operation, an additional 5,000 jobs in the region. Once operational, the New York facility will be the only independently-managed, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing foundry in the US.

 

Global demand for independent foundry manufacturing is growing because leading semiconductor companies are exiting manufacturing, as the cost and complexity increases and capital and research and development costs have become too high. In addition, the world's requirements for devices that use more advanced semiconductors continue to grow, and the IBM technology alliance, to which The Foundry Company will belong, creates an increasingly larger foundation for semiconductor innovation. The Foundry Company will also join the IBM joint development alliance for both silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and bulk silicon through the 22nm generation. The alliance consists of a group of leading semiconductor companies collaborating on next generation silicon technologies.

 

The board of directors of The Foundry Company will be equally divided between representatives of AMD and ATIC. AMD will own 44.4% and ATIC will own 55.6% of The Foundry Company's fully-converted common stock upon its formation.

 

Doug Grose will relinquish his current role as AMD's senior vice president of manufacturing operations to become CEO of The Foundry Company. Hector Ruiz will relinquish his current role as AMD's executive chairman and chairman of the board to become chairman of The Foundry Company. To augment its announced leadership, the new company plans an aggressive recruitment strategy to round out a world-class semiconductor manufacturing leadership team.

 

ATIC is an investment company formed by the government of Abu Dhabi to invest in advanced technology opportunities that require long-term investment horizons to achieve economic returns while also increasing the economic diversification of Abu Dhabi. While it enhances its capabilities specific to the transaction, ATIC will enter into a 12-month agreement with Mubadala to project manage ATIC's interest in The Foundry Company.

 

As a result of the transactions, AMD will strengthen its financial position and focus on the design and development of computing and graphics solutions. AMD will improve its liquidity through The Foundry Company's assumption of approximately US$1.2 billion in debt, ATIC's US$700 million payment to AMD for ownership interests in The Foundry Company and Mubadala's US$314 million paid to AMD for 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares.

 

Mubadala, who already owns an 8.1% stake in AMD, will increase its holdings to 19.3% of outstanding AMD shares on a fully diluted basis. This will be accomplished through the purchase for US$314 million of 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares. Mubadala will also have the right to appoint a designee to AMD's board of directors.

 

ATIC Chairman Waleed Al Mokarrab said, "More than a year in the making, today's announcement significantly reshapes the global semiconductor industry. Independent and well-capitalized, The Foundry Company begins day one with an established leading-edge customer, an advanced technology roadmap, an R&D partnership with IBM, and a clear plan to scale capacity, providing it the foundation to become a clear leader in global semiconductor manufacturing."

 

Upon closing of the transaction, The Foundry Company will commence operations with approximately 3,000 employees who will transition into the new company from AMD facilities in Silicon Valley, New York, Dresden, and Austin. The new company's principal headquarters will be in Silicon Valley and its research and development and manufacturing teams and ecosystems will be based in New York, Dresden, and Austin. After the upgrade and expansion in Dresden and the build-out of the New York facility, The Foundry Company envisions expanding its global manufacturing footprint over time, if commercially justified, to also include new fabrication facilities in Abu Dhabi.

 

The transaction is expected to close at the beginning of 2009 following satisfaction of conditions such as approvals from regulators, transfer of previously-confirmed New York incentives to The Foundry Company, and the approval of AMD stockholders for the issuance of common stock and warrants to Mubadala. Prior to closing, AMD, ATIC and Mubadala will file a joint voluntary notice of the transaction for review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a government inter-agency committee chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury.

Looks like they are strengthing up for a big come back!

 

 

 

[Athlon64~SPARTA~]

AMD says new 'Shanghai' chip is ready to go

 

"We're in full production right now in the factory," he said. "People will start getting first silicon from the final production very shortly."

 

Patla asserted that Shanghai is a "very power efficient product" and will perform much better than Barcelona because the smaller 45-nanometer process yields "a lot more (clock) frequency."

 

At the same frequency (speed), Shanghai will outperform Barcelona by about 20 percent, Patla said.

 

AMD is also boosting the size of the cache memory, which typically speeds performance, from 2 megabytes to 6 megabytes. Another speed improvement will come from increasing "instructions per clock," Patla said.

 

"We're also turning on HT3 (HyperTransport 3) and you'll see partners start to validate that in the Q1 time frame," Patla said. HyperTransport is a high-speed communication link technology between silicon.

 

Shanghai will be followed by a 45-nanometer desktop processor code-named Deneb, which is due to launch in the fourth quarter of this year or first quarter of 2009, AMD said.

 

In the fourth quarter of 2009, AMD will add a six-core processor. "We'll take what we've learned from our 45-nanometer process and Shanghai core and bring out an Istanbul six-core product," Patla said. Like Shanghai, this will be targeted at servers with up to eight processor sockets.

 

[Athlon64~SPARTA~]

World Tech Update: The Big CEATEC Show, Cell Phones, and CarsIDG News Service

wacth the video

 

http://www.pcworld.com/video/id,915-page,1-bid,0/video.html