Monday, May 4, 2009

History of AMD


Over the course of AMD's four decades in business, silicon and software have become the steel and plastic of the worldwide digital economy. Technology companies have become global pacesetters, making technical advances at a prodigious rate — always driving the industry to deliver more and more, faster and faster.

However, “technology for technology's sake” is not the way we do business at AMD. Our history is marked by a commitment to innovation that's truly useful for customers — putting the real needs of people ahead of technical one-upmanship. AMD founder Jerry Sanders has always maintained that “customers should come first, at every stage of a company's activities.”

We believe our company history bears that out.

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1960
1969 AMD incorporates with $100,000; establishes headquarters in Sunnyvale,Ca
lifornia
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1970

1970
A
MD introduces its first proprietary device: the Am2501 logic counter

1972

AMD goes public

1979
Production begins i
n new AMD Austin manufacturing facility

1979
AMD debuts on the New York Stock Exchange

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1980

1982
At IBM's request, AMD signs an agreement to serve as a second source to Intel for IBM PC
microprocessors

1984
AMD is listed in "The 100
Best Companies to Work for in America

1985
AMD is listed in Fortune 500 for the first time ATI incorporates ATI develops its first graphics controller and first graphics board product

1986
ATI secures
major contract with Commodore Business Machines to supply 7000 chips per week

1987
AMD acquires Monolithic Memories, Inc. and enters
programmable logic business ATI debuts EGA Wonder™ and VGA Wonder™

1988
Work begins on AMD Submicron Development Center

1989
ATI assists in establishment of VESA standard for graphics industry


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1990

1991
AMD's Am386® microprocessor family debuts ATI introduces Mach8™ chip and board products: first ATI products to process graphics independently of the CPU

1992

ATI introduces Mach32™: first ATI integrated graphics controller and accelerator in one chip ATI releases VESA Local Bus (VLB) products, followed by peripheral component interconnect(PCI)products ATI establishes ATI GmbH in Munich, Germany


1993

AMD Am486® microprocessor family debuts AMD establishes joint venture with Fujitsu to produce Flash memory products ATI goes public; stocks are listed on NASDAQ and Toronto Stock Exchange

1994


AMD and Compaq Computer Corp. form long-term alliance to power Compaq computers with Am486 microprocessors ATI introduces Mach64™: first ATI graphics boards to accelerate motion video

1995
AMD introduces AMD-K5® microprocessor: first independently-designed, socket-compatible x86 microprocessor ATI is first graphics company to ship Mac-compatible graphics boards

1996

AMD acquires NexGen, a microprocessor companyATI releases industry's first 3D graphics chip, first combination graphics and TV tuner card, and first chip to display computer graphics on a television
ATI enters the notebook market with the industry's first notebook 3D graphics acceleratorATI establishes ATI Ireland

1997
AMD introduces the AMD-K6® microprocessor: helps drive PC prices below $1,000 for the first time, making PCs affordable to average consumers ATI is first graphics company to provide hardware support for DVD acceleration and displayATI is first graphics company to release products supporting Accelerated Graphics Port, the new industry standard

1998
ATI is first company to introduce a complete set-top box design
ATI ships its ten millionth AGP chip


1999
AMD Athlon™ processor becomes first seventh-generation processor for Microsoft® Windows® computing Vantis, AMD's programmable logic business, sold to Lattice Semiconductor

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2000



AMD is first to break the historic 1GHz (one billion clock cycles per second) with the AMD Athlon™ processor
AMD introduces AMD PowerNow!™ technology with Mobile AMD-K6®-2+ processors
ATI Radeon™ graphics technology debuts: leading product for high-end gaming and 3D workstations
ATI acquires ArtX, Inc., a graphics chipset company

2001

AMD Athlon™ MP processor debuts: the company's first multiprocessing platform
AMD HyperTransport™ technology is adopted by Agilent, Apple Computer, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, IBM, nVidia, Sun, and Texas Instruments

2002

AMD acquires Alchemy Semiconductor for low-power, embedded processor technology
AMD Cool'n'Quiet™ technology debuts with Athlon™ XP family: helps lower power consumption, enables quieter-running system, and delivers performance on-demand to maximize users' computing experience
ATI launches ATI Radeon™ 9700 Pro: world's first DirectX 9 graphics processor

2003

AMD and IBM sign joint manufacturing technology development agreement to develop future generation manufacturing technologies
AMD Opteron™ processor and AMD Athlon™ 64 processor debut
With Fujitsu, AMD forms FASL, LLC, and a new company: Spansion™
AMD forms strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems and acquires National Semiconductor's x86 business
ATI introduces ATI Radeon™ 9600 XT: world's first high volume 0.13um low-k chips

2004

AMD demonstrates world's first x86 dual-core processor
AMD announces the 50x15 Initiative with the goal of accelerating affordable Internet access and basic computing to 50 percent of the world's population by 2015
Advanced Micro Devices (China) Co., Ltd. is established, headquartered in Beijing
ATI is listed in the NASDAQ 100
ATI introduces first 110nm GPUs (ATI Radeon™ X800 XL)

2005

AMD introduces AMD Turion™ 64 mobile technology for notebook PCs and AMD Athlon™ 64 X 2 dual-core processor for desktop
AMD introduces the world's highest performing processors for 1-8P x86 servers and workstations
AMD files landmark antitrust litigation against Intel for illegally abusing its monopoly to exclude and limit competition
Spansion™ goes public
AMD announces grand opening of Fab 36 in Dresden, Germany
ATI GPU is featured in Microsoft Xbox 360, revolutionizing high-definition gaming

2006

AMD acquires ATI to create a new, innovative processing powerhouse CrossFire™ multi-GPU gaming platform debuts
AMD LIVE!™ media center PCs debut
Dell Inc. announces it will offer AMD processor-based systems
AMD begins revenue shipments of processors from Fab 36
AMD's Shanghai Research and Development Center (SRDC) launches to focus on the development of AMD's next-generation mobile platforms
AMD demonstrates the industry's first native quad-core x86 server processor
AMD is a founding member of The Green Grid, an open, global organization designed to decrease IT facility energy usage patterns

2007

AMD demonstrates Accelerated Computing platform that breaks teraflop performance barrier
AMD introduces ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 series graphics processors to deliver The Ultimate Visual Experience™ graphics for desktop and mobile platforms

2008

TACC, based on AMD Opteron processor-based Sun servers, becomes world's largest computer devoted to general research.
AMD LIVE!™ Explorer launches, enabling immersive HD entertainment for the home PC.
Launch of AMD Changing the Game, a non-profit program intended to improve kids' technical and life skills by teaching them to develop digital games with social content.
AMD demonstrates the Cinema 2.0 Experience, punching holes in the 'sensory barrier' separating cinema and games.
Dirk Meyer succeeds Hector Ruiz as CEO of AMD.

2009

GLOBALFOUNDRIES, a new leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing company, is formed by a joint venture between AMD and the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC).
AMD introduces the ultrathin notebook platform codenamed "Yukon," enabling exceedingly thin and light OEM designs with rich entertainment capabilities at an affordable price. The platform is based on the new AMD Athlon™ Neo processor, ATI Radeon™ X1250 integrated graphics and optional ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 discrete graphics and enables true HD entertainment in a new category of stylish notebook PCs.
AMD introduces the AMD platform technology codenamed "Dragon" for desktop PCs, which provides the power to do it all by combining AMD's highest-performing CPU, the AMD Phenom™ II X4 processor, with award winning ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series graphics and AMD 7-Series chipsets.
AMD introduces its most energy efficient AMD Opteron™ processor to date: the Quad-Core AMD Opteron EE processor. The new technology not only delivers more choices for IT customers who require an extremely energy efficient solution, but also targets the unique needs of cloud computing platforms.
AMD ships the 50 millionth ATI 'Hollywood' graphics processor for the Wii game console from Nintendo, making 'Hollywood' the most successful AMD technology-based game console chip to date in terms of unit sales.
AMD unveils a plan to revolutionize the deployment, development and delivery of HD content through the 'AMD Fusion Render Cloud,' a massively-parallel supercomputer.
AMD's Lone Star campus in Austin, TX achieves a gold certification under the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. Based on current certified projects, this is the largest gold certified LEED® commercial building in Texas.

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