During a press conference Tuesday morning, AMD said it would split into two, one company that focuses on microprocessor design and the other on the business of manufacturing them.
As part of the split, AMD is launching a new company, dubbed The Foundry Company, a pairing between AMD and Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC). The pair will launch a new U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing company in New York. The Foundry Company, which also includes a massive investment from Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Co., will address the growing demand for independent foundry production capabilities, AMD said.
AMD said Mubadala will invest $314 million, more than doubling its current stake in AMD, reaching 19.3 percent from 8.1 percent.
ATIC, also based in Abu Dhabi, will invest $2.1 billion, assuming $1.2 billion of AMD's current debt, for a stake in Foundry. ATIC also expects to invest between $3.6 billion and $6 billion to the Foundry Company over the next five years to help AMD, the world's No. 2 chip maker, expand its capacity beyond the manufacturing facilities AMD initially contributes to the Foundry Company. The funds will be used by the Foundry Company to expand capacity at its fabs in Dresden, Germany and the construction of the new facility in Saratoga County, N.Y.
AMD said the New York facility will create more than 1,400 direct jobs and generate an additional 5,000 jobs in the region. Meyer said the New York facility will be the only independently managed, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing foundry in the U.S.
The Foundry Company's board of directors will be equally divided between representatives of AMD and ATIC, with AMD owning a 44.4 percent stake and ATIC holding the remaining 55.6 percent.
The Foundry Company is expected to launch in 2009, with construction to begin on the new New York facility in the same year. The Foundry Company will also join the IBM joint development alliance, a collaborative group of leading semiconductor companies working on next-generation silicon technologies, for both silicon-on-insulator and bulk silicon through the 22nm generation.
