AMD loses $330 million in second quarter

Sunnyvale (CA) – AMD, which calls itself AMD Product Company following the spin-off of its manufacturing arm that is now called Globalfoundries, continued to bleed cash in the second quarter of this year. Revenue dropped 13% while the net loss improved to $330 million, not including the firm’s manufacturing operations.

AMD said revenues came in at $1.184 billion, which is about flat with Q1, but down about 13% from Q2 2008. The “net loss attributable to AMD common stockholders” was $330 million, which was down from $1.195 billion, including an impairment charge relating to the acquisition of ATI in late 2006. The operating loss was $249 million, down from $416 million in Q1 and down from $569 million in Q2 2008.

The second quarter bottom line benefitted from a $98 million sale of inventory written down in the fourth quarter of 2008.

“The AMD Product Company successfully executed its product and technology roadmaps in the first half of the year, including introducing the Six-Core AMD Opteron™ processor months ahead of schedule. While we increased cash, exceeded our revenue plan and reduced operating expenses in the second quarter, gross margin was disappointing,” said Dirk Meyer, AMD president and CEO. “New platform, microprocessor and graphics introductions planned for the second half of 2009 position us well to improve margins and meet our financial goals for the year.”

Globalfoundries plans to begin construction of its new 32nm/28nm fab in Saratoga Springs, New York, later this week.