AMD Opteron

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optimus, Microsoft, Intel, Itanium processor, Windows Server 2003, x86 processors, SuSE, Red Hat, Parametric superiority

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Background Note Contd...

In the early 1980s, AMD's growth was driven by two initiatives. The first, called the "Age of Asparagus," represented the company's drive to increase the number of proprietary products offered to the marketplace. The second was AMD's "Catch the Wave" recruiting advertisements. The wave portrayed the company as an unstoppable force in the integrated circuit business. By this time, AMD had significantly strengthened its research and development capabilities.

By the mid-1980s, the tides of change were sweeping the industry. Japanese semiconductor makers came to dominate the memory markets and a fierce downturn took hold of the computer market. AMD, along with the rest of the semiconductor industry, began looking for new ways to compete in an increasingly difficult environment. In 1989, Sanders realized the need to enter in new markets. Finding new ways to compete led to the concept of AMD's "Spheres of Influence." Those spheres were microprocessors compatible with IBM computers, networking and communication chips, programmable logic devices, and high-performance memories.

The company realized its long-term survival depended on developing submicron process technology² that would fill its manufacturing needs. By its 25th anniversary, AMD had gone a long way towards meeting those goals. In Microsoft Windows compatible business, the company began to produce its own versions of the wildly popular Am386 and Am486 microprocessors. AMD also became a leading supplier of flash, EPROM, networking, telecommunications and programmable logic chips.

AMD's growth through the late-1990s was fueled by new product development, continued development of the manufacturing and process technologies necessary for high-volume manufacturing, and strengthened relationships with strategic partners. Relationships with infrastructure, software, technology, and OEM partners enabled AMD to help lead the industry towards innovative new platforms and products that hailed the return of competition to the marketplace. In 1995, AMD and NexGen discussed ways to collaborate for creating a family of microprocessors. These meetings led to the acquisition of NexGen in 1996 and the development of AMD-K6 processor, which served as the platform AMD required to deliver its next-generation processor.

The introduction of Athlon processor in 1999 marked the culmination of AMD's ambition of offering an industry leading, proprietary, Microsoft Windows-compatible processor. The Athlon was the first processor to reach the historic 1Ghz (1000MHz) mark. Athlon based systems received more than 100 prestigious awards from independent publications and organizations all over the world.

Besides revitalizing its product portfolio, AMD also strengthened its manufacturing capabilities. In 1995, AMD completed the construction of Fab 25 in Austin, Texas. Before Fab 25 was completed, AMD laid the groundwork for its next megafab in Dresden, Germany. A strategic partnership with Motorola enabled AMD to become the first company to use copper interconnect technology to build Microsoft Windows-compatible processors. The jointly developed process technology provided the "recipe" required for AMD to produce consistently large volumes of Athlon processors in Fab 30.

AMD continued development of flash memory technology, which was driving the technology boom at the time. Cellular phones and the Internet drove demand for flash memory, but its usage became ubiquitous. AMD's expansive portfolio of flash memory devices addressed the memory needs of cell phones, automotive navigation systems, Internet appliances, cable set top boxes, cable modems, and many other applications.

By the end of 2002, AMD had manufacturing facilities at strategic locations across the world in the US, Europe, Japan and Asia. Fab 30³, AMD's $2 bn-plus, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany, produced high-performance microprocessors using leading-edge 130-nanometer process technology. AMD's Fab 25 in Austin, Texas produced Flash memory products using 130-and 170-nanometer technology⁴. Three Fujitsu AMD Semiconductor Ltd. (FASL), joint venture manufacturing facilities in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan produced AMD's innovative, low-voltage flash memory devices.

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2] The aggressiveness of a semiconductor process technology is determined from a combination of both the gate length and the metal pitch of the microprocessor. Gate length helps determine the speed and robustness of the individual transistors, and the metal pitch determines how compact the overall design can be. A metal pitch is the overall width, measured in microns, of a metal line and single adjacent space. Sub-micron technology enables to reduce the width of the metal pitch to very small size.
3] Fab in semiconductor industry means fabrication facility.
4] A nanometer is a unit of spatial measurement that is 10-9 meter or one-billionth of a meter. It is commonly used in nanotechnology, the building of extremely small machines.