"This incentive package developed by New York is a clear differentiator in keeping this region competitive in the global technology marketplace. The support from the State of New York at all levels has been critical to the creation of The Foundry Company,” said Hector Ruiz chairman of AMD, who will become chairman of The Foundry Company.

Bit-tech has learned from several anonymous tipsters that AMD has culled a large portion of its workforce at its UK headquarters in Frimley. Details are light at the moment, but it is said that the sales team has remained relatively unaffected while engineering, marketing and administration have been hit pretty hard.

AMD and Abu Dhabi-based ATIC and Mubadala have renegotiated some of the financial details of their deal,inked in October, to transfer ownership of AMD's foundry business and assets, to more closely reflect the current market value of the sale.

AMD spinnoff, The Foundry Company. has been given the green light by New York state's economic development arm, which has approved US$1.2 billion in state incentives for the firm's new chip fab.

AMD's manufacturing arm which is heading for a spin-off to form a foundry services provider, regards the current downturn as a good anti-cyclical investment opportunity. Nevertheless, the company is aware of the challenges they are approaching, said two top managers of the company. While the Foundry Company will maintain and expand its production capacity in Dresden and later plans to build a new fab in upstate New York, the headquarters will be placed in the Silicon Valley.

In a report titled "Death by 1000 paper cuts: Cutting estimates and targets on most chip firms," FBR Capital Markets downgraded its estimates for several semiconductor industry companies including AMD, Maxim, and National Semiconductor.

The board of directors of the Empire State Development had been scheduled to vote on whether to transfer a US$1.2 billion package of state incentives from Sunnyvale-based AMD to The Foundry Co., a joint venture between AMD and UAE-based Advanced Technology Investment. Instead, that vote has been postponed until a December meeting, according to AMD and state officials. However, Travis Bullard, a spokesman for AMD, said the decision to push off a vote until the board’s December meeting does not delay the plant.

Backed by a strong investor, Advanced Micro Devices is expected to expand its production lines and next foundry service providers such as Fab 36 and Fab 38 in Dresden, Germany. During a congress in Munich, Udo Nothelfer, VP, manufacturing and technology, for AMD's Fab 36, gave details on the company's strategy and road map. "AMD's expansion plans are based on the presumption that the trend in the IC industry toward fab-lite and fabless business models will create added demand for foundry services," said Nothelfer.