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May 10, 2007 4:31 PM PDT

AMD lays off 430 amid heavy losses

by Tom Krazit
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Faced with an urgent need to cut costs, Advanced Micro Devices laid off 430 workers on Wednesday as it looks to get back on track.

AMD had hinted that layoffs were coming when it acquired ATI Technologies last year, but it has also been struggling in the first half of this year with its main processor business. An ongoing price war with Intel and Intel's renewed competitive position--combined with AMD's own supply chain missteps--have led to heavy losses. AMD was forced to take out $2.2 billion in notes to keep the lights on as it awaits the launch of quad-core server and desktop processors later this year that it thinks will erase the advantage Intel has with its own quad-core processors.

The job cuts represent 2.6 percent of the company's workforce. The San Jose Mercury News reported that 40 of the jobs come from AMD's Sunnyvale, Calif., headquarters as well as a nearby Santa Clara facility acquired along with ATI. An additional 50 jobs have been axed at the former ATI headquarters in Markham, Ontario, while 80 jobs are now gone in Austin, Texas, where AMD has a sizable presence.

Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom.
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Coke and Pepsi
by cidman2001 May 10, 2007 6:53 PM PDT
This seems familiar. A while back Intel was going under as AMD beat the to the 64bit punch. Now the quad core is going to pull AMD from the brink. I think its all a lot of hype designed to drive the tech press and the company stock. I'm not ashamed to say I'm old enough to remember the cola wars of the 80's....the winner is...not the consumer!
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Something in the California water?
by Dachi May 10, 2007 10:27 PM PDT
Why is it that all IT jobs seem to reside in the same few areas?<br /><br />I am sick of where I live and I want to move, but every single job I have seen or had a recruiter contact me for seems to be in the middle of the same couple of cities.<br /><br />And why are there so many IT people in California? You people have some of the nicest climate in the world, what are you doing in front of computers?<br /><br />Also, if cutting costs is so important, why don't some companies move the hell out of down town San Francisco to somewhere they don't have to pay secretaries $60,000/year?
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Come to Albany, NY
by ejevo May 11, 2007 5:35 AM PDT
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.techvalley.org/" target="_newWindow">http://www.techvalley.org/</a><br /><br />Sematech, a chip maker consortium, just announced they're moving their HQ from Austin to Albany.<br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--nanotechresearch0510may10,0,3524206,print.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork" target="_newWindow">http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--nanotechresearch0510may10,0,3524206,print.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork</a><br /><br />AMD, which had previously announced they had plans for a chip fab plant here, announced a news conference after their layoff plans were revealed. Everyone expected the worst, but were shocked when AMD announced that they were now planning on building not one but three chip plants here.<br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~110287,00.html" target="_newWindow">http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~110287,00.html</a>
Not as bad as Intel cuts
by lynxss May 11, 2007 11:54 AM PDT
430 in job cuts across 3 facilities isnt near as bad as the 1000 jobs cut from the one Intel plant here
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