Interview with AMD, part 2

Q: One way in which AMD has been able to compete with Intel is through strategic partnerships. IBM is one well known partner of AMD and, as I understand it, has been instrumental in providing AMD with a 65-nanometer manufacturing capability. Do you have any comments on how that process is going?

A: Yes. I think we’re past the get-to-know-each-other period. It’s now clicking at full speed. I’m hearing a lot of positive things from both IBM and AMD executives in the R&D community. I think it’s a very strong partnership. It allows us to share costs, which are ever increasing, but also leverage what I think is a fantastic portfolio of talent that exists in the IBM community. As you know, I come from IBM, and I have a lot of respect for that company. I couldn’t think of a better partner, from that perspective. It’s really a great partnership, and it works well for both of us. One of the significant outcomes is that, as far as I can tell, our 45-nanometer development, as indicated in the analyst papers, is more or less on a par with Intel’s. That shows that from a position where we were later to market with new technologies than they were, five years ago, we’re catching up pretty quickly.