Finance and Operations Roundup

Bob Rivet, COO, CAO and CFO for AMD, states 2008 as "a year of improvement". He sounded very cautious yet composed as he presented the company's financial progress. The company is said to have recorded improvements and recovery in the CPU front, huge improvements in the consumer graphics front, and divested non-profitable assets.



Rivet also detailed on the Asset Smart Transaction, which is a vehicle for transfer of manufacturing and foundry assets of AMD to the new AMD foundry company which is jointly owned by Mubadala ATIC and AMD, although it remains autonomous. The transaction is an extremely complicated process, where AMD needs to transfer its related benefits from organizations including governments, to the new foundry company. AMD asserts that the process will be smooth, and that they are getting support from the parties critical to its execution, and that a great deal of transparency would be maintained by the companies toward their benefactors and investors in general.



AMD claims that the impact of Asset Smart would be beneficiary for both companies, with AMD retaining a profitable margin:



The transfer of assets to the foundry company would also reduce short-term payments: