AMD The Foundry Co sees opportunities in crisis

While in the foundry business currently even top dogs such as TSMC admit that the market situation is very difficult and a shakeout cannot be ruled out, the manufacturing subsidiary of microprocessor vendor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is deliberately heading for that very market. As reported, Abu Dhabi investment company ATIC plans to take over the majority of the manufacturing company with two production lines in Dresden. On top of the utilization generated by microprocessor orders from AMD, the company will join the foundry fray.

Managers of AMD's still-subsidiary demonstrate optimism. Gerd Teepe, Director of AMDs Dresden Design Center feels confident that the crisis won't last forever — and that the electronics industry will emerge from the downturn stronger than ever. "We don't expect long-term market predictions to be reduced significantly," he said in an interview with EE Times Europe. "The prospects for microelectronics remain excellent. After all, microelectronics is a crucial technology for many other industries such as healthcare, automotive, and industry automation. This innovation machine is simply indispensible."

With respect to the investor, everybody at the Dresden production site is confident that he does not plan a short foray but a serious and responsible long-term commitment. For instance David Greenlaw, Director Process Integration. "This is not about a few quarter, but about many years," he said.