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Silver lining for AMD

By Xiao Wang (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-26 14:54

As the world economic slowdown continues to hit tech spending, PC vendors are being forced to cut prices to maintain shipment growth.

But the world's second largest chip maker, Advance Micro Devices Inc, sees the economic turbulence as an opportunity for expansion, as PC vendors turn to products with higher cost performance.

"I think that represents a tremendous opportunity for us," Randy Allen, senior vice-president of AMD's computing solutions group, said.

Revenue has been sliding since last year at many global PC vendors, as tech spending slowed after the subprime crisis hit.

Global PC shipments in the second quarter of this year increased 3.1 percent over the previous quarter, according to research firm IDC. But PC vendors' revenue declined 4.5 percent in that period.

But Allen said he is confident about AMD's business outlook.

He said China will play a critical role in the company's success, especially amid uncertainties in the world market.

"For AMD to be successful, we have to win in China," he said.

Earlier this month, AMD decided to drop its "Smarter choice" tagline in exchange for "The future is fusion", as it tries to highlight the combination of its microprocessor and graphics technologies.

AMD's first 45-nanometer processor "Shanghai" is expected to be shipped in the fourth quarter of this year, featuring high frequency, high performance and low power consumption.