SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is a scrappy underdog whose 40-year history in the computer chip business has been punctuated by bursts of technological innovation and severe downturns. Now it is celebrating a $1.45 billion antitrust fine against the Silicon Valley rival it blames for many of its woes: Intel Corp.
The European Union said Wednesday that Intel's sales tactics were aimed at shutting AMD out of deals to sell its microprocessors, which are essentially the brains of personal computers. AMD has been making that complaint for years, pinning some of its serious financial problems on its inability to win more market share worldwide because of Intel's allegedly abusive tactics.
AMD's CEO, Dirk Meyer, said the ruling against Intel should mark the end of its rule over European markets and is "an important step toward establishing a truly competitive market."
Intel has about 80 percent of the worldwide PC microprocessor market. AMD, which is headquartered mere miles from Intel, essentially has the rest.
AMD has long been smaller than Intel, but still has come up with inventive technological tweaks that have kept customers interested. And the AMD of the last few years is a more serious challenger to Intel than it ever has been. AMD knocked Intel off balance with its 2003 entry into the market for server chips.
But AMD's missteps since then have haunted the company. An expensive acquisition of a graphics chip company saddled AMD with loads of debt just as Intel was firing back with a new product lineup. AMD recently underwent a massive restructuring to try and correct its course, changing CEOs and splitting its manufacturing operations into a separate company with the help of the Abu Dhabi government.
AMD's manufacturing is done out of two factories in Dresden, Germany, which are now part of the spinoff, called GlobalFoundries Inc. Another factory is planned for Saratoga County in New York.
Intel has factories has factories in Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, and overseas in Ireland and Israel. Intel has other facilities in China, Costa Rica, Malaysia and the Philippines.
by The Associated Press
The European Union said Wednesday that Intel's sales tactics were aimed at shutting AMD out of deals to sell its microprocessors, which are essentially the brains of personal computers. AMD has been making that complaint for years, pinning some of its serious financial problems on its inability to win more market share worldwide because of Intel's allegedly abusive tactics.
AMD's CEO, Dirk Meyer, said the ruling against Intel should mark the end of its rule over European markets and is "an important step toward establishing a truly competitive market."
Intel has about 80 percent of the worldwide PC microprocessor market. AMD, which is headquartered mere miles from Intel, essentially has the rest.
AMD has long been smaller than Intel, but still has come up with inventive technological tweaks that have kept customers interested. And the AMD of the last few years is a more serious challenger to Intel than it ever has been. AMD knocked Intel off balance with its 2003 entry into the market for server chips.
But AMD's missteps since then have haunted the company. An expensive acquisition of a graphics chip company saddled AMD with loads of debt just as Intel was firing back with a new product lineup. AMD recently underwent a massive restructuring to try and correct its course, changing CEOs and splitting its manufacturing operations into a separate company with the help of the Abu Dhabi government.
AMD's manufacturing is done out of two factories in Dresden, Germany, which are now part of the spinoff, called GlobalFoundries Inc. Another factory is planned for Saratoga County in New York.
Intel has factories has factories in Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, and overseas in Ireland and Israel. Intel has other facilities in China, Costa Rica, Malaysia and the Philippines.
by The Associated Press
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