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AMD Breaks Ground on 300 Millimeter Manufacturing Facility in Dresden, Germany
Move to Expand Manufacturing Capacity Driven by Positive Customer
Response and Increased Market Opportunities for AMD64 Processors
SUNNYVALE, Calif. & DRESDEN, Germany—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Nov. 20, 2003—
AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced today that it has broken ground on a 300
millimeter (mm) manufacturing facility (or "fab"). The facility, named
AMD Fab 36, is part of AMD Dresden Fab 36 LLC & Co. KG and will be
located in Dresden, Germany, adjacent to AMD Fab 30. AMD Fab 36 is
expected to be in volume production in 2006. The new facility is
expected to require approximately 1,000 employees, most of them highly
skilled engineers and technicians.
"Positive customer response and increasing momentum for our AMD64
processors make it clear that the time is right to expand our
manufacturing capacity in order to effectively meet future demand,"
said Hector Ruiz, president and CEO at AMD. "Our aggressive push into
the enterprise computing market continues to gain traction, as
evidenced by Sun's recent adoption of the AMD Opteron(TM) processor
and the growing success of server and workstation solutions from IBM,
Fujitsu Siemens and others."
AMD Fab 36 will produce future generations of AMD products using
the third-generation of AMD's patented automated manufacturing
capabilities, known as Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM 3.0).
"The world-class employee talent in Dresden and the superiority of
AMD's advanced fab automation technologies will allow us to build on
the success of AMD Fab 30 and help make AMD Fab 36 a leading-edge 300
mm facility," said Gary Heerssen, senior executive for Corporate
Manufacturing at AMD.
"AMD's investment in Dresden is one of the largest in East Germany
since unification in 1990," said Minister President of the Free State
of Saxony Professor Georg Milbradt. "With the AMD Fab 36 facility,
Saxony will be established among the world's top microelectronic
centers. This is an incredible ascent in just a few years, and it
would not have been possible without the highly motivated and
qualified employees in the region. They have more than met the high
expectations placed on them, and by doing so, they placed Saxony at
the top in a globally competitive environment."
"Innovation is the basis of growth and employment, particularly in
a country like Germany," said Germany's Federal Minister of Education
and Research Edelgard Bulmahn. "We want to trigger a new dynamic with
technological innovations that create jobs and secure Germany's
future. The new factory in Saxony will contribute substantially to
such dynamic growth." Minister Bulmahn added that her Ministry's
funding of semiconductor projects has contributed to the creation of
11,000 high-quality jobs in the Dresden region alone.
"By building in Dresden, we are able to leverage the outstanding
capabilities of our existing AMD Fab 30 and gain access to the most
substantial government-backed financial incentives package available
to us," said Bob Rivet, chief financial officer at AMD. "We expect AMD
Fab 36 will cost approximately US$2.4 billion over the next four
years. We have arranged external financing and government support of
approximately $1.5 billion during that period. We believe AMD Fab 36
offers the best solution for meeting future customer demand while
advancing long-term shareholder value."
The external financing is expected to include up to approximately
$700 million in loans from a consortium of banks, including an 80
percent residual guarantee from Germany and Saxony, approximately $500
million in anticipated grants and allowances from the Germany and
Saxonian governments (pending European Union Commission approval), and
up to approximately $320 million in equity funding from Saxony and a
group of European investors led by M+W Zander. The balance of the
financing will be provided by AMD and other potential partners.
Conference Call
AMD will hold a conference call at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (6
p.m. Central European Time) on Thursday, November 20, 2003 to discuss
this announcement. The conference call is for press and analysts only.
U.S. dial-in: 800-732-6094. International dial-in: 212-346-6585. Code:
21165444. AMD will provide a real-time audio webcast of the
teleconference on its web site at
http://www.amd.com/conference_webcast. The webcast will be available
for ten days after the conference call.
Cautionary Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements, which are made
pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that
forward-looking statements in this release involve risks and
uncertainty that could cause actual results to differ materially from
current expectations. Risks include the possibility that demand for
the company's current processor product offerings will not increase as
anticipated; that demand for products planned for introduction in 2006
and beyond will be lower than currently expected and insufficient to
fill the capacity planned for AMD Fab 36; that the company will not
achieve its current AMD Fab 36 construction, tooling and technology
introduction schedules; and that the company's current plans for
funding and financing AMD Fab 36 will not be successful. We urge
investors to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in the
company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but
not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 29, 2002, and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended September 28, 2003.
About AMD
Founded in 1969 and based in Sunnyvale, California, AMD (NYSE:
AMD) is a global supplier of integrated circuits for the personal and
networked computer and communications markets with manufacturing
facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia. AMD, a Standard &
Poor's 500 company, produces microprocessors, Flash memory devices,
and silicon-based solutions for communications and networking
applications.
AMD on the Web
For more AMD news and product information, please visit our
virtual pressroom at www.amd.com/news/virtualpress/index.html.
Additional press releases are available at www.amd.com/news/news.html.
AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Opteron and combinations thereof are
trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other product and company
names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of
their respective companies.
Contact:
North America Public Relations:
AMD Public Relations
Robert Keosheyan, 512-602-4764
rob.keosheyan@amd.com
Drew Prairie, 512-602-4425
drew.prairie@amd.com
or
Europe Public Relations:
AMD Public Relations
Jens Drews, +49 (351) 277 1010
jens.drews@amd.com
or
AMD Investor Relations
Mike Haase, 408-749-3124
mike.haase@amd.com
Ruth Cotter, 408-749-3887
ruth.cotter@amd.com
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