AMD: Powering the Future of Computing

Bringing Affordable Computing to People Around the World

• AMD and Microsoft announce “Pay-As-You-Go” PC program to accelerate personal computing and narrow the “digital divide” in emerging markets
• AMD is a founding partner of Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child, which is developing the world's first “$100 laptop.” AMD will supply the microprocessor for the laptop, which is specifically designed for children in developing nations.
• AMD launched the "50x15" initiative at the 2004 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting— a bold commitment to empower 50% of the world's population with basic Internet access by the year 2015. AMD's efforts center around the Personal Internet Communicator (PIC), a new category of computing device developed specifically for emerging markets.
• In the late '90s, AMD created the AMD-K6® microprocessor family, which helped drive costs down to the first sub $1,000 PC and enabled a whole new market segment — PCs affordable for everyday people and families. AMD's aim: To offer the highest performance and lowest cost solution to everyone.

Creating the Most Powerful Computing Solutions

• More than 50 percent of the top 500 of the Forbes Global 2000 companies or their subsidiaries use AMD64 processor-based systems.
• The AMD64 platform has earned more than 200 global industry awards. In the first quarter, AMD added 26 awards, including: 2005 Reader’s Choice Award for Best Processor Architecture from Tom’s Hardware for the AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 processor and Best Server Processor of 2005 from In-Stat MDR for the Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor.
• AMD Opteron processors power Cray, Inc. & Sandia National Labs' $90 million supercomputer, "Red Storm," used to monitor the U.S.' nuclear stockpile.
• The world's foremost digital artists and pop culture shapers are using AMD64 technology to realize projects like Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, DreamWorks' Madagascar, Sin City, Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival DVD, Ubisoft's Far Cry game, and many others. By providing a balance between production power and artistic inspiration, AMD64 technology is revolutionizing the way movies, music and games are created.
• DreamWorks Animation SKG, a leading innovator in computer-generated filmmaking, selects AMD as its Preferred Processor Provider. As the Preferred Processor Provider for DreamWorks Animation, AMD will provide the AMD Opteron processor with Direct Connect Architecture for DreamWorks Animation's next-generation enterprise servers, workstations, render farm nodes, enterprise desktops and enterprise laptops.
• AMD is the official sponsor and technology partner to Michael Schumacher and the Scudiera Ferrari Formula One team, as well as the official technology sponsor of six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and his Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team. Both teams are the best in the world at their sport.

Forging the Pathway to Better, More Innovative Computing

• In 2006 FORTUNE Magazine ranked AMD as one of the 10 most admired companies overall for innovation, and the number one company in the semiconductor industry category.
• Multi-core AMD Opteron™ microprocessors offer a lower total cost of ownership and seamless migration path from today's generation of 32-bit computers to pervasive next-generation processing power.
• AMD’s standards-based and collaborative approach to technology development continued with the release of AMD’s open I/O virtualization technology specification through royalty-free licenses.
• Because AMD64 technology with Direct Connect Architecture was designed from the ground up for multi-core computing, it delivers the higher performance of a dual-core processor but with the same power usage as a single-core processor. Furthermore, the transition to dual-core computing with AMD64 technology only requires a processor swap and a BIOS upgrade.
• AMD Direct Connect Architecture unifies the processor, memory and input/output functions to eliminate performance bottlenecks common to non-AMD processors, dramatically improving overall efficiency.
• AMD Cool'n'Quiet™ technology, the industry's first power management solution for desktop PCs, reduces power consumption and system noise on PCs. The U.S. EPA awarded AMD an Energy Star certification to Cool'n'Quiet technology for advancing computer energy efficiency.
• AMD PowerNow!™ technology first allowed customers to deliver cooler, quieter-running notebook systems with extended system battery life.
• AMD hardware-enabled virus protection paved the way for a more secure Microsoft Windows XP computing environment.
• Introduced the industry's first processor with an integrated memory controller built into the chip, processing information faster and more efficiently than competing designs and greatly improving performance.
• Launched the energy-efficient AMD Turion™ 64 mobile chip for ultra-light notebook PCs in the first half of 2005 based on the unique hybrid 32/64-bit AMD64 architecture.
• AMD was first to present and demonstrate an x86 multi core strategy, the innovative design that enables advanced multi-tasking capabilities and outstanding multimedia performance. For example, users can burn CDs or DVDs while simultaneously unzipping compressed files and encoding high-resolution videos, all while running robust security applications in the background.
• AMD was first to break the historic 1GHz speed barrier with the AMD Athlon processor.