[Wildside]

Source

AMD just issued a release saying that president and CEO Dirk Meyer will be making a "significant corporate announcement" tomorrow, which sounds ominously like those breakup rumors are coming true -- particularly since Dirk's on record saying that the chipmaker plans to spin off manufacturing and fabrication into a new company. We'll see in the morning -- anyone planning on throwing a blowout "last night of the old AMD" party in the meantime?

Update: The WSJ confirms it's a breakup -- but don't worry, they'll still be friends.

so.................what does this mean for the future products that was planned to come out, like the Deneb?

let me get this straight, the manufacturing and fab gonna become a new company separating AMD in half or something?

EDIT:

news from Dailytech about it:

DailyTech - AMD Splits in Two

Today AMD announced a shocking decision that will rock the computer industry -- in order to try to stay competitive, it is splitting in two. From the ashes of AMD will rise two companies. One will design chips and keep the brand name. The other, officially named the Foundry Company, will manufacture chips. The two companies will work closely together, but be independent.

the official news from AMD:

News Room Home

AMD [NYSE: AMD] and the Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) of Abu Dhabi today announced the creation of a U.S.-headquartered, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing company to address growing demand for independent, leading-edge foundry production capabilities. The new global company, to be temporarily called “The Foundry Company”, will serve this need by combining advanced process technology, industry-leading manufacturing facilities and aggressive plans to expand its global capacity footprint. At the same time, the Mubadala Development Company will increase its current investment in AMD to 19.3 percent on a fully diluted basis.

AMD will contribute to The Foundry Company its manufacturing facilities, including two fabrication facilities in Dresden, Germany, as well as related assets and intellectual property rights. ATIC will invest $2.1 billion to purchase its stake in The Foundry Company, of which it will invest $1.4 billion directly in the new entity and the remainder will be paid to AMD to purchase additional shares in The Foundry Company. The Foundry Company will also assume approximately $1.2 billion of AMD’s existing debt. ATIC has committed additional equity funding to The Foundry Company of a minimum of $3.6 billion and up to $6.0 billion over the next five years to fund the expansion of The Foundry Company’s chip-making capacity beyond the manufacturing facilities initially contributed by AMD. These funds will be used by The Foundry Company to (i) proceed with capacity expansion at its fabs in Dresden, Germany, including an upgrade of one of its fabs to a state-of-the-art facility, and (ii) begin construction on a new state-of-the-art facility in Saratoga County, New York, subject to the transfer of previously-approved New York State incentives. The New York facility is expected to create more than 1,400 direct jobs, and, through its operation, to generate an additional 5,000 jobs in the region. Once operational, the New York facility will be the only independently-managed, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing foundry in the United States.

and a transaction of what exactly is going down:

The transaction is expected to close at the beginning of 2009 following satisfaction of conditions such as approvals from regulators, transfer of previously-confirmed New York incentives to The Foundry Company, and the approval of AMD stockholders for the issuance of common stock and warrants to Mubadala. Prior to closing, AMD, ATIC and Mubadala will file a joint voluntary notice of the transaction for review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a government inter-agency committee chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury.

Upon closing, The Foundry Company will:


-Have a total enterprise value of $5.0 billion, consisting of AMD's contribution of manufacturing assets and intellectual property (including its fabrication facilities in Dresden), intellectual capital and employees valued together at $2.4 billion; ATIC's contribution of $1.4 billion in new capital; and $1.2 billion of debt assumed by The Foundry Company from AMD;
-Be consolidated with AMD for purposes of financial reporting;
-Have a board of directors whose membership is equally divided between representatives of AMD and ATIC;
-Have only AMD and ATIC as stockholders, each of which at the closing will have equal voting rights;
-Be owned 44.4 percent by AMD and 55.6 percent by ATIC on a fully converted to common basis. ATIC’s economic ownership will increase over time based on the differences in securities held by AMD and ATIC, and depending on whether AMD elects to invest proportionately with ATIC in future capital infusions to support The Foundry Company’s growth;
-Have its principal headquarters in Silicon Valley, and its research and development and manufacturing leadership teams and ecosystems in New York, Dresden, and Austin;
-Have an exclusive supply agreement with limited exceptions to manufacture AMD processors and to manufacture, where competitive, certain percentages of other AMD semiconductor products;
-Begin construction of the Fab 4X manufacturing facility in New York in the middle of 2009, directly employing more than 1,400 workers in Upstate New York when the facility is in full operation;
-Expect to increase capacity through completing the 300mm conversion of a second state-of-the-art facility in Dresden in 2009;
-Join the IBM technology development alliance for both SOI and bulk silicon technology, greatly expanding the addressable market of The Foundry Company;
-After the upgrade and expansion in Dresden and the build-out of the New York facility, The Foundry Company envisions expanding its global manufacturing footprint over time, if commercially justified, to also include new fabrication facilities in Abu Dhabi; and
-Announce its permanent corporate name and identity.

Upon closing, AMD will:


-Have equal voting rights with ATIC in The Foundry Company;
-Own 44.4 percent of The Foundry Company on a fully converted to common basis;
-Improve its liquidity through The Foundry Company’s assumption of approximately $1.2 billion of AMD’s debt, ATIC’s $700 million payment to AMD for ownership interests in The Foundry Company and Mubadala’s purchase for $314 million of 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares;
-Tightly focus on the design and development of the next generation of innovation based on the fusion of computing and graphics processing;
-Elect a Mubadala designee as a member of its board of directors;
-Excluding its consolidation of The Foundry Company for financial reporting purposes, improve its net cash position by $2.1 billion, through The Foundry Company’s assumption of approximately $1.1 billion in debt (net of approximately $100 million cash transferred by AMD to The Foundry Company) and cash payments from ATIC and Mubadala aggregating $1.0 billion;
-Have the option, but not any requirement, to provide additional capital funding to The Foundry Company in response to future capital calls; and
-Have an exclusive supply agreement with The Foundry Company, with limited exceptions, to manufacture AMD processors and to manufacture, where competitive, certain percentages of other AMD semiconductor products.

Upon closing, ATIC will:


-Have equal voting rights with AMD in The Foundry Company;
-Own 55.6 percent of The Foundry Company on a fully converted to common basis;
-Invest an initial $2.1 billion, of which $1.4 billion will be invested directly in the new company and $700 million will be paid directly to AMD;
-Commit a minimum of $3.6 billion and up to $6.0 billion in additional funds over the next five years for the upgrade and expansion of fabrication facilities in Dresden and construction of a new facility in Upstate New York.

Upon closing, Mubadala will:


-Purchase for an aggregate of $314 million 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares, giving it a total stake in AMD of 19.3 percent on a fully diluted basis; and
-Have a right to designate a representative for election as a member of the board of directors of AMD.

[enigm@tic]

God I hope not...

[zedman3d]

Its been done. They split the company off into two parts.

[35g700]

You guys think this will make there CPU's/GPU's go up in price?

[Hussein19891]

Doubt it.

[Trotter]

Once TFC is up and running, prices should drop a little, especially as they begin to pick up other chips for other companies.

I also saw an articles talking about TFC will be making ATI's graphic chips as well.

[Jorsoft]

That really stinks.....

[CrazeD]

Just as ATi starts whooping some ***.

This better not change that fact.

[Trotter]

Looks like a plus to me. By letting TFC handle the fabs, AMD can concentrate on research and development. ATI's chips are already farmed out, so it won't make a difference as far as that goes except to bring them into the TFC fold.