|
|
 |
AMD
The company was founded in 1969 by Jerry Sanders. In the beginning, AMD specialised in redesigning and developing semiconductor products from existing companies.
In 1975, AMD enters the RAM market with the AM9102.
In 1976, AMD signed a licensing agreement with Intel, allowing the company to use specific Intel patents in its own products.
These licenses ultimately permit AMD to enter the processor market. A 1991 legal dispute with Intel is won by AMD which had already terminated the license agreement.
AMD can now bring its own 386 clone to the market and spontaneously sells nearly 1 million units. The company releases the AM486 and 5X86. In order to acquire the necessary know-how for its own processor, AMD buys NexGen for 800 million dollars in 1996.
The K5 released in 1997 has never been an overwhelming success; the K6 successor model, in particular the K6-2, wins a considerable portion of Intel's market share. The K7 (AMD Athlon) and the models that follow (AMD Duron and AMD Athlon XP) have since become very technologically advanced and have what is required to seriously challenge Intel's leadership position in other areas as well.
One further quantum leap is expected when the planned processor of the eighth processor generation comes onto the market at the end of 2002. It is code named Hammer and uses over 0.13 micrometer technology. The new x86-64 technology of the Hammer supports 32-bit applications as well as future 64-bit applications. New technologies, such as the integrated memory controller and hypertransport interface, guarantee maximum performance for 3D graphics, Office applications, multimedia and audio/video streaming.
Back
|
 |
|
