FAB 36: arriva l'annuncio ufficiale di AMD

SUNNYVALE, Calif. & DRESDEN, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 2003--

Move to Expand Manufacturing Capacity Driven by Positive Customer

Response and Increased Market Opportunities for AMD64 Processors

AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced today that it has broken ground on a 300 millimeter (mm) manufacturing facility (or "fab"). The facility, named AMD Fab 36, is part of AMD Dresden Fab 36 LLC & Co. KG and will be located in Dresden, Germany, adjacent to AMD Fab 30. AMD Fab 36 is expected to be in volume production in 2006. The new facility is expected to require approximately 1,000 employees, most of them highly skilled engineers and technicians.

"Positive customer response and increasing momentum for our AMD64 processors make it clear that the time is right to expand our manufacturing capacity in order to effectively meet future demand," said Hector Ruiz, president and CEO at AMD. "Our aggressive push into the enterprise computing market continues to gain traction, as evidenced by Sun's recent adoption of the AMD Opteron(TM) processor and the growing success of server and workstation solutions from IBM, Fujitsu Siemens and others."

AMD Fab 36 will produce future generations of AMD products using the third-generation of AMD's patented automated manufacturing capabilities, known as Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM 3.0).

"The world-class employee talent in Dresden and the superiority of AMD's advanced fab automation technologies will allow us to build on the success of AMD Fab 30 and help make AMD Fab 36 a leading-edge 300 mm facility," said Gary Heerssen, senior executive for Corporate Manufacturing at AMD.

"AMD's investment in Dresden is one of the largest in East Germany since unification in 1990," said Minister President of the Free State of Saxony Professor Georg Milbradt. "With the AMD Fab 36 facility, Saxony will be established among the world's top microelectronic centers. This is an incredible ascent in just a few years, and it would not have been possible without the highly motivated and qualified employees in the region. They have more than met the high expectations placed on them, and by doing so, they placed Saxony at the top in a globally competitive environment."

"Innovation is the basis of growth and employment, particularly in a country like Germany," said Germany's Federal Minister of Education and Research Edelgard Bulmahn. "We want to trigger a new dynamic with technological innovations that create jobs and secure Germany's future. The new factory in Saxony will contribute substantially to such dynamic growth." Minister Bulmahn added that her Ministry's funding of semiconductor projects has contributed to the creation of 11,000 high-quality jobs in the Dresden region alone.

"By building in Dresden, we are able to leverage the outstanding capabilities of our existing AMD Fab 30 and gain access to the most substantial government-backed financial incentives package available to us," said Bob Rivet, chief financial officer at AMD. "We expect AMD Fab 36 will cost approximately US$2.4 billion over the next four years. We have arranged external financing and government support of approximately $1.5 billion during that period. We believe AMD Fab 36 offers the best solution for meeting future customer demand while advancing long-term shareholder value."