AMD Development History
Since its establishment, AMD has continuously developed new products and gradually formed a distinctive corporate culture, and many employees have also made great achievements in their careers. A great achievement. The following will briefly introduce the development history of AMD in the past thirty years, from which we can foresee the company's bright future.
AMD has a long history and outstanding achievements. This tradition has become a cohesive force that closely unites AMD's global employees. AMD was founded in 1969. At that time, the company was so small that it was even headquartered in the home of one of its founders. But since then, AMD has continued to develop and has now become a multinational company with annual revenue of US$2.4 billion. The following will introduce the important events that determine the development direction of AMD, the main forces driving AMD forward, and review AMD's major events in chronological order.
1969-74 - Looking for Opportunities
For Jerry Sanders, May 1, 1969 was a very important day. In the months leading up to that, he and seven other partners had been hard at work building a new company. Jerry had resigned from the position of global marketing director of Fairchild Semiconductor last year. At this moment, he is leading a team working hard with a very clear goal - to create a successful semiconductor company by providing increasingly sophisticated building blocks for manufacturers of electronic products such as computers, communication equipment, and instruments.
Although when the company was first established, all employees could only work in the living room of one of the founders, John Carey, but soon they moved to Santa Clara, California, renting two rooms behind a carpet store. room as an office space. By September of that year, AMD had raised the funds needed to begin production and move to 901 Thompson Place in Sunnyvale, California, AMD's first permanent location.
In its early days, AMD's main business was to redesign products for other companies, improve their speed and efficiency, and provide these products to the market as a "second supplier". AMD's slogan at the time was "better parameter performance." In order to strengthen the sales advantage of its products, the company provides an unprecedented quality guarantee in the industry-all products are produced and tested in accordance with strict MIL-STD-883 standards. The guarantee applies to all customers without any additional charges.
At AMD's fifth anniversary, AMD already had 1,500 employees, produced more than 200 different products - many of which were developed by AMD itself, and had annual sales of nearly $26.5 million.
Historical Review
May 1, 1969 - AMD was officially established with a start-up capital of US$100,000.
September 1969--AMD moved to its new headquarters at 901 Thompson Place, Sunnyvale.
November 1969--Fab 1 produced the first excellent chip-Am9300, which is a 4-bit MSI shift register.
May 1970--AMD’s first anniversary. At this time AMD already had 53 employees and 18 products, but no sales yet.
1970--Launched a self-developed product--Am2501.
November 1972--Started wafer production in the newly completed 902 Thompson Place plant.
September 1972--AMD went public and issued 525,000 shares at a price of $15 per share.
January 1973--AMD established its first overseas production base in Penang, Malaysia for mass production.
1973--Carry out profit dividends.
1974--AMD ends its fifth fiscal year with sales of $26.5 million.
1974-79 - Defining the Future
AMD's development in the second five years allowed the world to realize its most enduring advantage - perseverance. Although the U.S. economy experienced a severe recession between 1974 and 1975, AMD's sales were also affected to a certain extent, but they still grew to $168 million during this period, which meant that the average annual comprehensive growth rate exceeded 60.
On the occasion of AMD's fifth anniversary, AMD hosted what would become a famous company tradition - it held a lavish celebration, a garden party attended by employees and their relatives. .
This is also the stage where AMD is significantly expanding its production facilities, including building the 915 DeGuigne in Sunnyvale, setting up an assembly production base in Manila, Philippines, and expanding its factory in Penang, Malaysia.
Historical Review
May 1974--To celebrate the company's fifth anniversary, AMD held an employee garden party and presented employees with a TV, multiple 10-speed bicycles and... A sumptuous barbecue picnic.
1974--915 DeGuigne in Sunnyvale is built.
1974-75--The economic recession forces AMD to require professionals to work 44 hours a week.
1975--AMD enters the RAM market with the AM9102.
1975--Jerry Sanders proposed: "Put people first, and products and profits will follow."
1975--AMD's product line added the 8080A standard processor and AM2900 series .
1976--AMD held its first grand Christmas party at Rickey's Hyatt House in Palo Alto.
1976--AMD and Intel signed a patent mutual licensing agreement.
1977--Siemens and AMD create Advanced Micro Computers (AMC).
1978--AMD established an assembly production base in Manila.
1978--AMD's sales reach an important milestone: total annual revenue reaches $100 million.
1978--The construction of the Austin production base begins.
1979--The Austin production base was put into use.
1979--AMD is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
1980 - 1983 - The Search for Excellence
In the early 1980s, two famous logos represented AMD's situation. The first is the so-called "Asparagus Era", which represents the company's determination to increase the number of patented products it offers to the market. As with this highly profitable crop, development of patented products takes considerable time, but will ultimately provide a satisfactory return on the upfront investment. The second sign is a huge wave. AMD uses it as the core symbol of its "catch the trend" recruitment campaign and uses this wave to represent an unstoppable force in the field of integrated circuits.
We are truly unstoppable. AMD's R&D investment has always been ahead of other manufacturers in the industry. At the end of fiscal 1981, the company's sales more than doubled from fiscal 1979. During this period, AMD expanded its factories and manufacturing sites and focused on building new production facilities in Texas. AMD built a new production base in San Antonio and expanded its Austin plant. AMD has quickly become a major competitor in the global semiconductor market.
Historical Review
1980--Josie Lleno won the $1,000 monthly award for 20 consecutive years at AMD's "Christmas in May" party at the San Jose Convention Center.
1981--AMD's chips are used to build the Columbia space shuttle.
1981--San Antonio production base was built.
1981--AMD and Intel decided to extend and expand their original patent mutual licensing agreement.
1982--Austin's first 4-employee production line (MMP) was put into use.
1982--AMD and Intel signed a technology exchange agreement surrounding the iAPX86 microprocessor and peripheral equipment.
1983--AMD launched INT.STD.1000, the highest quality standard in the industry at the time.
1983--AMD Singapore branch was established.
1984-1989 -- Withstanding Severe Tests
AMD celebrated its 15th anniversary with the best annual sales performance in the company's history. In the months after AMD celebrated its anniversary, employees received record profit-sharing checks and celebrated Christmas with bands like Chicago from Los Angeles and Joe King Carrasco and the Crowns from Texas.
But in 1986, a wave of change began to sweep across the industry. Japanese semiconductor manufacturers have gradually taken a dominant position in the memory market, which has been the main pillar of AMD's business. At the same time, a severe economic recession hit the entire computer market, limiting demand for various chips. AMD and other companies in the semiconductor industry are committed to finding new ways to compete in an increasingly difficult market environment.
By 1989, Jerry Sanders began to consider reforms: reorganizing the entire company in order to gain a competitive advantage in new markets. AMD began to strengthen its sub-micron manufacturing capabilities by establishing a sub-micron R&D center.
Historical Review
1984--Bangkok production base started construction.
1984--Construction begins on the second factory in Austin.
1984--AMD is included in the book "The 100 Best Companies to Work for in the United States".
1985--AMD entered the Fortune 500 for the first time.
1985--Fabs 14 and 15 in Austin enter service.
1985--AMD launches free chip project.
1986--AMD launches the 29300 series of 32-bit chips.
1986--AMD launches the industry's first 1M-bit EPROM.
October 1986--Due to the prolonged economic recession, AMD announced its first layoffs in more than 10 years.
September 1986--Tony Holbrook was appointed president of the company.
1987--AMD and Sony jointly established a CMOS technology company.
April 1987--AMD filed a legal lawsuit against Intel.
April 1987--AMD and Monolithic Memories reached a merger agreement.
October 1988--SDC started construction.
1989-94 - Transformation
In order to find new means of competition, AMD proposed the concept of "scope of influence". For AMD, those ranges include microprocessors, networking and communications chips, programmable logic devices and high-performance memory compatible with IBM computers. In addition, the company's longevity comes from its success in developing submicron processing technologies.
This technology will meet the company's production needs for the next century.
As AMD celebrates its 25th anniversary, AMD has used all the advantages it has to achieve these goals. Currently, AMD ranks first or second in all markets in which it participates, including the Microsoft Windows?-compatible market. The company has successfully overcome legal obstacles in this regard and can produce its own widely adopted Am386? and Am486? microprocessors. AMD has become a major supplier of flash memory, EPROM, networking, telecommunications and programmable logic chips, and is working to build another high-volume manufacturing base dedicated to producing submicron devices. Over the past three years, the company has achieved record sales and operating income.
Although AMD's image is very different from what it was 25 years ago, it is still as tough and determined a competitor as it was in the past and can achieve success through the tireless efforts of its employees. , overcome any challenge.
Historical Review
May 1989--AMD established a senior leadership office, which included the company's three top executives.
May 1990--Rich Previte becomes the company's president and CEO. Tony Holbrook continues as chief technology officer and becomes chairman of the board of directors.
September 1990--SDC began to use silicon technology.
March 1991--AMD launched the AM386 microprocessor series, successfully breaking Intel's market monopoly.
October 1991--AMD sells its millionth Am386.
February 1992--AMD's five-year legal lawsuit against Intel ended, and AMD obtained the right to manufacture and sell all Am386 series processors.
April 1993--AMD and Fujifilm established a joint venture to jointly produce flash memory products.
April 1993--AMD launches the first members of the Am486 microprocessor series.
July 1993--Fab 25 begins construction in Austin.
1993--AMD announced the AMD-K5 project development plan.
January 1994--Compaq Computer Company and AMD established a long-term cooperative relationship. According to the cooperation agreement, Compaq Computer will use the Am485 microprocessor.
February 1994--AMD employees began to move to another AMD office location in Sunnyvale.
February 1994--Digital Equipment Company became the assembly partner of the Am486 microprocessor.
March 10, 1994 - A federal court jury ruled that AMD owned the Intel microcode in the 287 math coprocessor.
May 1, 1994 - AMD celebrated its 25th anniversary and invited Rod Stewart and Bruce Hornsby to perform in Sunnyvale and Austin respectively.
1995-1999 -- From change to transcendence
AMD's development during this period was mainly by providing more and more competitive products and continuously developing high-volume products. This is achieved by producing critical manufacturing and processing technologies, as well as strengthening relationships with strategic partners. During this period, partnerships with infrastructure, software, technology and OEM partners are important, allowing AMD to lead the industry toward innovative platforms and products that reintroduce competition into the market.
In 1995, senior executives from AMD and NexGen met for the first time to discuss a common dream: to create a family of microprocessors that could reintroduce competition to the market.
These talks led to AMD's acquisition of NexGen Corporation in 1996 and the successful launch of the AMD-K6? processor. The AMD-K6 processor not only achieves these high-end goals, but also serves as a bridge to help AMD launch its next-generation AMD Athlon? processor series. This marked a real success for the company.
The successful launch of the AMD Athlon processor in 1999 marked that AMD had finally achieved its goal: to design and produce an industry-leading, self-developed processor compatible with Microsoft Windows. For the first time, AMD has launched an industry-leading processor that uses a chipset and motherboard specifically optimized for AMD processors. AMD Athlon processors would go on to set many new records for the company and the entire industry, including the first processor to reach the historic 1GHz (1000MHz) frequency, making it the most famous in the history of the industry. One of the processor products. AMD Athlon processors and AMD Athlon processor-based systems have received more than 100 prestigious awards from independent publications and organizations around the world.
While launching this innovative product range, the company has also acquired sufficient production capacity to meet the growing demand for its products. In 1995, Fab 25 in Austin, Texas was successfully completed. Before Fab 25 is completed, AMD is fully prepared to build its next large-scale production base in Dresden, Germany. The strategic partnership with Motorola allows AMD to develop future-proof processor technology based on copper interconnects, making AMD the first company to use copper interconnect technology to develop processors compatible with Microsoft Windows. This jointly developed processing technology will help AMD stably produce large quantities of AMD Athlon processors at Fab 30.
AMD continues to maintain its leadership in flash technology by providing the industry standard for dual-operation flash devices. Flash memory has become an important component of many technologies driving the technology boom of the time. Mobile phones and the Internet have increased demand for flash memory, and its use is becoming increasingly common. AMD's broad line of flash memory devices already met the memory requirements of cell phones, car navigation systems, Internet devices, cable TV set-top boxes, cable modems and many other applications.
With a variety of flash memory and microprocessor products that can provide customers with significant competitive advantages, we can stably produce large quantities of products, industry-leading global production bases, and future-oriented, competitive products and Manufacturing plan, AMD was able to successfully enter the new century after successfully surviving a prosperous period.
Historical Review
1995--Fuji-AMD Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (FASL) joint production base started construction.
1995--Fab 25 was completed.
1996--AMD acquires NexGen.
1996--AMD starts construction of Fab 30 in Dresden.
1997--AMD launches AMD-K6 processor.
1998--AMD releases the AMD Athlon processor (formerly codenamed K7) on the Microprocessor Forum.
1998--AMD and Motorola announced a long-term partnership to develop copper interconnect technology.
1999--AMD celebrates its 30th anniversary.
1999--AMD launches the AMD Athlon processor, which is the industry's first seventh-generation processor to support Microsoft Windows computing.
2000---
One thing is beyond doubt, that is, AMD will continue to adhere to the philosophy it has adhered to in the past: driven by competition and focused on customers. , innovative products, and the ability to understand and adapt to change. Most importantly, the company's future will be shaped by AMD employees. Their long-term efforts have made AMD a successful and legendary company.
2000--AMD announced that Hector Ruiz has been appointed president and COO of the company.
2000--AMD Japan Branch celebrates its 25th anniversary.
2000--AMD's first-quarter sales exceeded $1 billion for the first time, breaking the company's sales record.
2000--AMD's Dresden Fab 30 begins shipping for the first time.
2001--AMD launches AMD Athlon? XP processor.
2001--AMD launches AMD Athlon MP dual processors for servers and workstations.
2002--AMD and UMC announced a comprehensive partnership to jointly own and manage a 300-mm wafer manufacturing center in Singapore and collaborate on the development of advanced processing technology equipment.
2002--AMD acquires Alchemy Semiconductor and establishes the personal connectivity solutions business unit.
2002--Hector Ruiz succeeds Jerry Sanders as CEO of AMD.
2002--AMD launches the first flash memory device based on MirrorBit architecture.
2003-AMD launches AMD Opteron? processors for servers and workstations
2003-AMD launches AMD Athlon? 64 processors for desktop computers and notebook computers
2003-AMD launches AMD Athlon? 64 FX processor. Systems based on AMD Athlon? 64 FX processor can provide cinema-level computing performance.