AMD facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Headquarters in Santa Clara, California, in 2020
Trade name	AMD
Type	Template:Public company
Traded as	NASDAQ: AMD Nasdaq-100 component S&P 100 component S&P 500 component
Industry	Semiconductors Artificial intelligence GPUs Consumer electronics Video games Computer hardware
Founded	May 1, 1969; 56 years ago (1969-05-01)
Founder	Team led by Jerry Sanders
Headquarters	Santa Clara, California , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Lisa Su (chair & CEO) Victor Peng (president) John Edward Caldwell (lead independent director) Mark Papermaster (CTO)
Products	Central processing units graphics processing units chipsets microprocessors system-on-a-chips (SoCs) motherboard chipsets network interface controllers embedded processors solid-state drives drivers TV accessories
Brands	Ryzen Radeon Athlon Epyc Virtex Vivado Sempron Duron AMD Instinct
Revenue	US$22.68 billion (2023)
Operating income	US$401 million (2023)
Net income	US$854 million (2023)
Total assets	US$67.89 billion (2023)
Total equity	US$55.89 billion (2023)
Number of employees	c. 26,000 (2023)

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (often called AMD) is an American company that makes computer parts. It's based in Santa Clara, California. AMD creates computer processors and other related technologies. These are used in many devices for both businesses and everyday people.

AMD's main products include microprocessors (the "brains" of computers), motherboard chipsets, embedded processors, and graphics processors (GPUs). These parts are found in servers, powerful workstations, personal computers, and even specialized devices. AMD has also grown into new areas like data centers, gaming, and high-performance computing (supercomputers).

You'll find AMD processors in many computing devices, like personal computers, laptops, and gaming consoles. The company used to make its own processors. But in 2009, it created a new company called GlobalFoundries to handle the manufacturing. Now, AMD focuses on designing the chips.

AMD was started in 1969 by Jerry Sanders and other tech experts. At first, they made memory chips. In 1975, AMD started making microprocessors, competing with Intel, its main rival. In the early 2000s, AMD grew a lot, especially with its Athlon and Opteron processors for PCs. However, they faced challenges later, struggling to keep up with Intel.

In the late 2010s, AMD became very popular again. This was thanks to its Ryzen processors. These chips offered much better performance, especially for business and cloud uses, making them strong competitors to Intel's chips.

History

How AMD Started

Advanced Micro Devices was officially started by Jerry Sanders and seven friends from another company, Fairchild Semiconductor. This happened on May 1, 1969. Jerry Sanders was an electrical engineer who felt frustrated at his old job. He decided to leave and start his own semiconductor company. This was similar to what Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore did when they started Intel in 1968.

In September 1969, AMD moved to Sunnyvale, California. To get customers quickly, AMD first made copies of microchips designed by other companies. AMD focused on making "logic chips." They promised high quality, which was important because early microchips often had problems.

AMD made its first product, the Am9300, in November 1969. It started selling in 1970. In 1970, AMD also made its first own product, the Am2501, which was very successful. Their best-selling product in 1971 was the Am2505, a very fast calculator chip.

In 1971, AMD started making RAM chips. By the end of that year, AMD's total sales reached $4.6 million.

AMD became a public company in September 1972. This meant people could buy shares of the company. By 1975, AMD was making 212 different products. Forty-nine of these were their own designs.

Intel made the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, in 1971. By 1975, AMD entered this market with the Am9080. This chip was a copy of Intel's 8080. AMD also made the Am2900 family of microprocessors. In 1976, AMD and Intel made a deal. AMD was allowed to use Intel's special code (called microcode) in its processors.

In 1977, AMD partnered with Siemens, a big German company. Siemens bought 20% of AMD's stock, giving AMD more money to make new products. They also started a joint company called Advanced Micro Computers (AMC). However, their ideas for AMC were different, so AMD bought Siemens' share in 1979. AMD closed AMC in 1981 to focus on making Intel's x86 microprocessors.

By 1978, AMD's total sales were over $100 million. In 1979, AMD started trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They also began building a new chip factory in Austin, Texas. In 1980, AMD started making chips for the fast-growing telecommunications industry.

Working with Intel

Intel released the first x86 microprocessors in 1978. In 1981, IBM wanted to use Intel's x86 processors for its new PC. But IBM required that Intel also have another company make the same chips. So, Intel and AMD signed a 10-year agreement in 1981. This deal allowed each company to make and sell chips designed by the other.

Because of this agreement, AMD started making Intel-licensed 8086, 8088, 80186, and 80188 processors in large numbers. By 1984, AMD made its own Am286 chip, which was a copy of Intel's 80286. These chips were for the quickly growing market of IBM PCs and other compatible computers.

AMD kept investing a lot in research. In 1984, they created the world's first 512K EPROM (a type of memory chip). In 1985, AMD was listed in the Fortune 500 list of top companies.

In the mid-1980s, the microchip market faced a big slowdown. AMD survived by creating new products and modernizing its factories. They also worked with the U.S. government to stop unfair pricing from Japanese companies. During this time, AMD stopped making DRAM chips.

In 1986, AMD started focusing on RISC processors with their AMD Am29000 (29k) chip. This chip was later used in embedded systems. Throughout the 1980s, AMD was a second supplier for Intel's x86 processors. But in 1991, AMD released its own Am386 chip. This meant AMD started competing directly with Intel.

AMD also had a very successful business making flash memory chips. In 2003, AMD separated its flash memory business into a new company called Spansion. This was a joint company with Fujitsu. In 2005, AMD sold its share in Spansion to focus more on microprocessors.

Recent Years (2006–Present)

On July 24, 2006, AMD announced it would buy ATI Technologies, a Canadian company known for 3D graphics cards. AMD paid about $5.4 billion for ATI. The deal was finished on October 25, 2006. In 2010, AMD decided to stop using the ATI brand name for its graphics chips and use the AMD brand instead.

In October 2008, AMD announced it would create a new company for its manufacturing operations, called GlobalFoundries Inc.. This was a joint project with an investment company from Abu Dhabi. This move gave AMD more money and allowed it to focus only on designing chips. Dirk Meyer became AMD's CEO.

In August 2011, Rory Read became AMD's new CEO. In 2011 and 2012, AMD had to lay off many employees to save money because sales were going down.

In 2014, Lisa Su became the new CEO of AMD. She had been the chief operating officer before. Under her leadership, AMD reorganized into two main groups: Computing and Graphics, and Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom.

In August 2016, AMD moved its headquarters from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara, California. Their new building is even across the highway from Intel's headquarters! In 2019, AMD's old Sunnyvale headquarters was torn down to build new homes.

In October 2020, AMD announced it was buying Xilinx, another chip company. This deal was completed in February 2022 and was worth about $50 billion. In October 2023, AMD bought Nod.ai, a company that makes software for AI.

In March 2024, the value of AMD's stock went over $300 billion for the first time.

Who has been CEO?

Name	Years	Job, education
Jerry Sanders	1969–2002	Founder, electrical engineer
Hector Ruiz	2002–2008	Electrical engineer
Dirk Meyer	2008–2011	Computer engineer
Rory Read	2011–2014	Information Systems
Lisa Su	2014–present	Electrical engineer

Products

CPUs and APUs

Early Processors and the x86 Architecture

In 1982, AMD signed a deal with Intel to make Intel's 8086 and 8088 processors. IBM wanted to use these chips in its IBM PC. But IBM required that at least two companies make the chips. AMD later made the Am286 under the same deal.

However, Intel later stopped sharing information about its newer chips, like the 80386. This led to legal disagreements between AMD and Intel. After many years, AMD won the right to use Intel's technology for some of its older chips.

In 1991, AMD released its own version of the Intel 386 processor, called the Am386. It sold a million units quickly. In 1993, AMD introduced the Am486 family of processors. These were popular with computer makers like Compaq. The Am5x86 came out in 1995 and continued AMD's success with fast, affordable processors.

K5, K6, Athlon, Duron, and Sempron

AMD's first own x86 processor was the K5, launched in 1996. The "K" in its name was a secret nod to "Kryptonite," the only thing that could harm Superman. This was AMD's way of saying they wanted to challenge Intel's dominance. The "5" meant it was a fifth-generation x86 processor.

In 1996, AMD bought another company called NexGen to get their x86-compatible processor designs. This led to the K6 processor, released in 1997. It was very competitive with Intel's chips.

The K7 was AMD's seventh-generation x86 processor, launched as the Athlon on June 23, 1999. The Duron was a cheaper, simpler version of the Athlon. Sempron later replaced Duron as a lower-cost option.

Athlon 64, Opteron and Phenom

The K8 was a big update to the K7 design. It added 64-bit features to the x86 instruction set (called AMD64). It also included a memory controller right on the chip and a very fast connection called HyperTransport. This technology first appeared in the Opteron server processor in 2003. Soon after, it was used in desktop computers as the Athlon 64.

In 2005, AMD released the first dual-core Opteron and Athlon 64 X2 processors. This meant chips had two "brains" working together. In 2007, AMD released the first server Opteron K10 processors, followed by the Phenom for desktops. K10 processors had two, three, or four cores all on one chip.

In 2009, AMD released a new line of processors called Phenom II. These were improved versions of the original Phenom. They fixed some issues and were more competitive. In 2010, AMD released the Phenom II Hexa-core (6-core) processor. It had "turbo core" technology, which allowed the chip to switch to fewer, faster cores when needed.

Fusion becomes the AMD APU

After AMD bought ATI Technologies in 2006, they started a project called Fusion. The idea was to combine a CPU (the main processor) and a GPU (the graphics processor) onto one chip. This would make computers faster and more efficient, especially for graphics and certain calculations. Fusion was later renamed the AMD APU (Accelerated Processing Unit).

Llano was AMD's first APU for laptops, released in 2011. It combined a CPU, GPU, and other functions on one chip. AMD APUs are now common in laptops running Windows. These include the E1 and E2 for basic use, and the Vision A-series (A4, A6, A8, A10) for more powerful tasks. These APUs include modern Radeon graphics cards.

New Microarchitectures

Bulldozer Cores (High-Power)

Bulldozer was a new design for AMD's server and desktop processors, first released in 2011. AMD hoped it would greatly improve performance, but early results were mixed.

The Piledriver microarchitecture came out in 2012, making Bulldozer chips faster. Then came Steamroller in 2013, which focused on doing more tasks at once. Finally, Excavator in 2015 improved power efficiency.

Cat Cores (Low-Power)

The Bobcat microarchitecture was designed for smaller, lower-power devices. It was released in 2011.

Jaguar was Bobcat's successor, released in 2013. Jaguar chips were used in many low-power devices. They were also used in the custom chips for popular gaming consoles like the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and their updated versions. Puma followed Jaguar in 2014.

ARM-based Designs

In 2012, AMD announced it was working on chips based on the ARM design. These were for special custom products and server computers. The first server product, the Opteron A1100, was released in 2016.

Zen-based CPUs and APUs

Zen is a very important architecture for AMD's Ryzen series of CPUs and APUs. It was introduced in 2017. This design was built from scratch by a team led by Jim Keller.

One of AMD's main goals with Zen was to make processors much more efficient. They aimed for a 40% increase in how many instructions a chip could handle per clock cycle. They actually achieved a 52% increase! Zen chips are also much more energy efficient.

Zen architecture was the first to use a single socket (Socket AM4) for both CPUs and APUs. It also brought simultaneous multithreading (SMT) technology to AMD chips. This allows a single processor core to handle multiple tasks at once, similar to Intel's hyper-threading. Zen also supports faster DDR4 memory.

AMD released the high-end Ryzen 7 chips in March 2017, followed by Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3. They also released the Epyc line of Zen-based server processors. In October 2017, AMD released Zen-based APUs for laptops, called Ryzen Mobile, which included powerful Vega graphics.

AMD continued to improve Zen with Zen+ (2018), Zen 2 (2019), and Zen 3 (2020). As of 2019, AMD's Ryzen processors were even outselling Intel's desktop processors for everyday users. In 2020, AMD announced Ryzen Mobile 4000, the first 7nm x86 mobile processor. In August 2022, AMD released new CPUs based on the Zen 4 architecture.

Many popular gaming consoles use chips based on the Zen 2 design. These include the Steam Deck, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and Series S.

Graphics Products and GPUs

Radeon Graphics within AMD

In 2008, AMD's ATI division released the TeraScale microarchitecture. This new design used flexible, programmable shaders instead of older fixed hardware. This technology was first used in the GPU for the Xbox 360.

In 2009, AMD combined its CPU and GPU divisions. This was to help with the development of APUs, which combine both. In 2011, AMD released the Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. This new design was better at general computing tasks, not just graphics. It was made to work well with AMD's APUs.

Radeon Technologies Group

In September 2015, AMD made its graphics division a separate internal unit called the Radeon Technologies Group (RTG). This gave the graphics team more freedom. RTG then created the Polaris (2016) and Vega (2017) graphics architectures. Vega, in particular, had major updates to improve performance.

In 2020, AMD announced its second-generation RDNA graphics architecture. This was designed to compete with Nvidia's powerful RTX graphics cards. In October 2020, AMD launched its new RX 6000 series GPUs. These were their first high-end cards that could handle ray-tracing, a new lighting technology in games.

Custom Chips for Game Consoles

In 2012, AMD's CEO Rory Read started a program to offer custom chip designs. This meant customers could work with AMD to create a special chip using AMD's technology. AMD was unique because it could offer both x86 processor and graphics technology.

These custom designs were chosen for the APUs in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. They were also used in later versions like the PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. These custom chips made up a large part of AMD's income in 2016.

In 2017, AMD and Intel even announced a product that combined an Intel Core CPU with a custom AMD Radeon GPU in one package.

Other Hardware

AMD Motherboard Chipsets

Before 2003, AMD designed chipsets for its own processors. But with the Athlon 64 processors, AMD decided to let other companies design chipsets for its desktop chips. This was called the "Open Platform Management Architecture."

When AMD bought ATI Technologies in 2006, they gained ATI's chipset design team. AMD then started renaming these chipsets under the AMD brand. In 2007, AMD released the 690G chipset, which was the first to include an HDMI port on motherboards.

With AMD's APUs in 2011, many traditional chipset features moved onto the APU itself. The remaining chipset was called the Fusion Controller Hub (FCH).

In 2017, AMD released new chipsets for its Ryzen processors. These chipsets mostly added more connections like PCI Express, USB, and SATA.

Embedded Products

Embedded CPUs

In the early 1990s, AMD started selling special chips called AMD Élan for embedded systems. These were "system-on-a-chip" (SoC) designs, meaning many computer parts were on one chip. They were used in devices like the Nokia 9000 Communicator.

In 2003, AMD bought the Geode business. Geode processors were used in many embedded systems, like casino slot machines and customer kiosks. They were also used in the OLPC XO-1 computer, an affordable laptop for children in developing countries.

AMD also added 64-bit processors to its embedded line, starting with the AMD Opteron. These powerful chips were used in telecom and storage devices.

In 2011, AMD announced the AMD Embedded G-Series Accelerated Processing Unit. This was the first APU designed for embedded uses. These have been updated over the years.

Embedded Graphics

AMD also makes graphics processors for embedded systems. These are used in many different products, from casinos to healthcare machines. These products include a complete graphics device in a small package. AMD has regularly updated its embedded GPU lineup since 2008.

Current Products

CPU and APU Products

AMD's main CPU and APU products today include:

• Athlon – for basic computers
• A-series – consumer desktop and laptop APUs
• G-series – low-power APUs for embedded devices
• Ryzen – popular consumer CPUs and APUs
• Ryzen Threadripper – very powerful CPUs for professionals
• R-series – high-performance APUs for embedded devices
• Epyc – CPUs for servers
• Opteron – APUs for microservers

Graphics Products

AMD's main graphics processor products today include:

• Radeon – graphics cards for everyday users and gamers.
  • Mobility Radeon are power-saving versions for laptops.
• Radeon Pro – graphics cards for professional workstations.
• Radeon Instinct – powerful products for machine learning and GPGPU (using GPUs for general computing).

Radeon-branded Products

RAM

In 2011, AMD started selling DDR3 SDRAM memory under the Radeon brand. This memory was designed to work well with AMD's APUs. They later offered faster gaming memory. Radeon-branded DDR4 SDRAM memory was released in 2015.

Solid-state Drives

In 2014, AMD announced it would sell Radeon-branded solid-state drives (SSDs). These fast storage drives were made by another company, OCZ.

Technologies

CPU Hardware

Some technologies found in AMD CPU/APU products include:

• HyperTransport – a fast connection used in AMD's CPU and APU products.
• Infinity Fabric – a newer version of HyperTransport used in AMD's Zen microarchitecture.

Graphics Hardware

Some technologies found in AMD GPU products include:

• AMD Eyefinity – lets you use up to 6 monitors with one graphics card.
• AMD FreeSync – makes games look smoother by matching the screen's refresh rate to the graphics card.
• AMD TrueAudio – helps speed up sound calculations.
• AMD XConnect – allows you to use external graphics card boxes with laptops.
• AMD CrossFire – lets you use multiple graphics cards together for more power.
• Unified Video Decoder (UVD) – speeds up video playback.
• Video Coding Engine (VCE) – speeds up video recording and encoding.

Software

AMD has worked hard to make its software tools more open.

Distribution

AMD Radeon Software is where you can get official software from AMD. It includes both free and paid software and works on Microsoft Windows and Linux.

CPU

• AOCC is AMD's special C/C++ compiler for Linux.
• AMDuProf helps you see how AMD CPUs are performing.
• AMD has also helped develop coreboot, an open-source project to replace the computer's basic startup software (BIOS).

GPU

AMD has made a lot of its GPU software open source.

• GPUOpen is AMD's graphics software, which includes features like FidelityFX Super Resolution for better game graphics.
• ROCm (Radeon Open Compute platform) is AMD's software for machine learning and high-performance computing.
• AMDgpu is AMD's open-source driver for Linux.

Other Software

• AMD works on heterogeneous computing, which means using both CPUs and GPUs to solve problems.
• AMD contributes to open-source projects. For example, they work with the X.Org Foundation to develop drivers for AMD graphics cards.

Production and Fabrication

In the past, AMD made its own chips in its own factories. AMD also worked with other chip makers like IBM to develop new ways to make chips.

In 2008, AMD spun off its chip factories into a new, independent company called GlobalFoundries. This was because making chips was becoming very expensive. The government of Abu Dhabi bought GlobalFoundries.

After this, AMD became a "fabless" semiconductor company. This means they design chips but don't make them. Instead, they pay other companies, like GlobalFoundries, TSMC, and Samsung, to produce their designs. This helps AMD reduce risk by not relying on just one factory.

In 2018, AMD started moving more of its chip production to TSMC. This was after GlobalFoundries decided to stop developing its most advanced manufacturing process.

Corporate Affairs

Partnerships

AMD works with many other companies to help its business and compete with Intel:

• AMD worked with Alpha Processor Inc. to develop HyperTransport, a fast connection standard.
• AMD partnered with IBM to get advanced chip manufacturing technology.
• AMD works with computer makers like HP, Dell, Asus, Acer, and Microsoft to sell its processors.
• In 2006, Dell started using AMD's Opteron chips in its servers, ending an exclusive deal with Intel.
• In 2013, AMD announced that its custom chips would power all three major next-generation game consoles: the Xbox One, Sony PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Wii U. This helps game developers create games that work well on different systems.
• AMD is a founding member of the HSA Foundation. This group aims to make it easier to use both CPUs and GPUs together for computing tasks.
• In 2016, AMD created a joint company to make x86 server chips for the Chinese market.
• AMD is working with the U.S. Department of Energy and other companies to build powerful supercomputers like Frontier and El Capitan. These supercomputers will use AMD's Epyc CPUs and Radeon GPUs.
• In 2020, it was announced that AMD would power the next-generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony.
• In 2021, AMD partnered with Meta to make chips for the Metaverse.
• In 2022, AMD partnered with Samsung to develop a mobile processor called Exynos 2022, which uses AMD's RDNA 2 graphics.

Guinness World Record

• On August 31, 2011, AMD set a Guinness World Record for the "Highest frequency of a computer processor": 8.429 GHz. They used an 8-core FX-8150 processor, but only two cores were active, and it was cooled with liquid helium.
• In November 2011, an overclocker (someone who makes chips run faster) used an FX-8150 to set a new record: 8.461 GHz.
• In November 2012, another record was set with an FX-8350: 8.794 GHz.

Company Purchases

AMD has bought several companies to grow its business:

Date	Company	What they do	Price
February 6, 2002	Alchemy Semiconductor	Embedded CPUs	Undisclosed
July 24, 2006	ATI Technologies	Graphics and 3D software (Radeon GPUs)	$5.4 billion
February 29, 2012	SeaMicro	Data center technology	$334 million
June 29, 2016	HiAlgo	Gaming experience software	Undisclosed
April 10, 2017	Nitero	Wireless technology for AR/VR headsets	Undisclosed
October 27, 2020	Xilinx	Custom chips (FPGA, adaptive SoCs, AI accelerators)	$49 billion
April 4, 2022	Pensando	Data center and cloud solutions	$1.9 billion
August 29, 2023	Mipsology	AI software	Undisclosed
October 10, 2023	Nod.ai	Open-source AI software	Undisclosed

Being a Responsible Company

• In its 2022 report, AMD stated that it wants to be environmentally friendly. It also aims to have safe workplaces and help communities around the world.
• In 2022, AMD reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 19% compared to 2020.

See Also

In Spanish: Advanced Micro Devices para niños

• AMD Livebox
• List of AMD processors
• List of AMD accelerated processing units
• List of AMD graphics processing units
• List of AMD chipsets
• List of ATI chipsets
• 3DNow!
• Cool'n'Quiet
• PowerNow!