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AMD plans rural push for growth

By Li Fei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-21 09:42

Chipmaker AMD will work closely with the local governments and its partners in China to cash in on the plan to sell more computers in rural areas, a senior company executive said.

The government recently launched a program to help farmers buy computers by subsidizing their purchases, as part of its efforts to spur domestic demand to counter the economic downturn.

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"We are excited about such programs and our China team will work closely with authorities and local OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to provide the right products at the right prices to ensure they get the right experience," said Nigel Dessau, senior vice-president, AMD. "China is at the heart of our business and it represents a very important opportunity for us," said Dessau, who also serves as AMD's chief marketing officer.

But he declined to say whether the company is going to cut processor prices to suit the rural markets in China.

The US chipmaker, which has just spun off its manufacturing operations earlier this month, has launched or plans to introduce a series of new products to drive its business, said Dessau. These include a chip code-named Shanghai, which has already received good reviews from analysts, and the "Dragon" platform, ultra-thin notebooks. "We will introduce a broad range of products in the next three to six months to replace our existing lineup of processors in the market," Dessau said.

A major highlight of the upcoming product roadmap, he said, would be the new six-core processor, code-named Istanbul, which will be introduced later this year.

The company, which has seen its stock rise significantly this year, is also getting positive responses for a new chip for notebooks and for a new graphics microprocessor that analysts say showed the wisdom of its ATI Technologies acquisition.

The archrival of the world's biggest chipmaker Intel earlier this month closed a deal to spin off its manufacturing arm to set up a joint venture with Advanced Technology Investment Co - an Abu Dhabi state-owned venture capital firm.