Free to follow every thread. No paywall, no dead ends.
AMD: the story on HearLore | HearLore
— Ch. 1 · Founding The Silicon Offspring —
AMD.
~5 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
Jerry Sanders stood at the edge of a new world on the 1st of May 1969. He incorporated Advanced Micro Devices with seven colleagues from Fairchild Semiconductor in Santa Clara, California. Sanders had grown frustrated with the lack of flexibility and support within his former employer. He sought to build a company that would offer the same quality as military standards but at commercial prices. The first product was the Am9300, a 4-bit MSI shift register manufactured in November 1969. It began selling in 1970. By year-end 1971, total annual sales reached US$4.6 million. The company moved into its new headquarters at 901 Thompson Place in Sunnyvale later that month. This facility housed an entire production line capable of making 2-inch diameter wafers with 7 µm feature sizes. AMD became a second source for microchips designed by Fairchild and National Semiconductor. They guaranteed quality control to United States Military Standard. Customers like computer manufacturers and instrument makers wanted to avoid unreliability in their microchips. In 1975, AMD entered the microprocessor market with the Am9080, a reverse-engineered clone of the Intel 8080. That same year, they produced 212 products, including proprietary items like the Am9102 static N-channel RAM.
The Second Source Strategy
Intel introduced the first x86 microprocessors in 1978. IBM created its personal computer in 1981 and required at least two sources for its chips. Intel and AMD signed a technology exchange agreement in October 1981, formally executed in February 1982. This deal allowed each company to become a second-source manufacturer of semiconductor products developed by the other. AMD received database tapes for Intel's 8086, 80186, and 80286 chips. By 1984, it produced its own Am286 clone for the rapidly growing market of IBM PCs. The agreement included the right to invoke arbitration over disagreements. In 1987, Intel canceled the technological-exchange agreement altogether after refusing to convey technical details of the Intel 386 processor. AMD invoked arbitration three years later. A long legal dispute followed, ending in 1994 when the Supreme Court of California sided with the arbitrator and AMD. Intel countersued AMD in 1990 regarding derivatives of its microcode. AMD was forced to develop clean room designed versions of Intel code for its x386 and x486 processors. In March 1991, AMD released the Am386, selling one million units by October of that year. By 1996, AMD received rights to the microcode in Intel's x386 and x486 families but not subsequent generations.
Jerry Sanders incorporated Advanced Micro Devices on the 1st of May 1969 with seven colleagues from Fairchild Semiconductor in Santa Clara, California.
What year did AMD release its first product?
The company manufactured its first product, the Am9300 shift register, in November 1969 and began selling it in 1970.
How did AMD enter the microprocessor market in 1975?
AMD entered the microprocessor market in 1975 with the Am9080, which was a reverse-engineered clone of the Intel 8080 processor.
Why did Intel cancel the technology exchange agreement with AMD in 1987?
Intel canceled the technological-exchange agreement in 1987 after refusing to convey technical details of the Intel 386 processor to AMD.
When did AMD announce plans to spin off manufacturing operations as GlobalFoundries Inc?
AMD announced plans to spin off manufacturing operations into GlobalFoundries Inc. in October 2008.
Which consoles use chips based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture?
The Steam Deck, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Series S all utilize chips based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture developed by AMD.
AMD announced plans to spin off manufacturing operations in October 2008 as GlobalFoundries Inc. This multibillion-dollar joint venture involved Advanced Technology Investment Co., an investment company formed by the government of Abu Dhabi. CEO Hector Ruiz stepped down in July 2008 to prepare for becoming chairman of GlobalFoundries in March 2009. Dirk Meyer became AMD's new CEO. Recessionary losses necessitated cutting 1,100 jobs in 2009. AMD acquired SeaMicro in early 2012 to bring out an Arm64 server chip. Rory Read joined as CEO in August 2011 after replacing Meyer. He stepped down in October 2014, succeeded by Lisa Su. On the 16th of October 2014, AMD reorganized into two business groups: Computing and Graphics, and Enterprise, Embedded, and Semi-Custom. The company laid off 7% of its global workforce by the end of 2014. In April 2019, the Irvine Company secured approval to demolish 1 AMD Place, the former headquarters in Sunnyvale. The site was redeveloped into townhomes and apartments. AMD moved its operations to a new 220,000 sq ft headquarters building in Santa Clara in August 2016.
The Zen Architecture Recovery
Development of AMD's x86-based Zen microarchitecture began with Jim Keller's arrival in 2012. He led a team that taped out the design before his departure in September 2015. One primary goal was achieving an IPC increase of at least 40%. By February 2017, AMD announced they had achieved a 52% increase. Processors made on the Zen architecture are built on the 14 nm FinFET node. They feature simultaneous multithreading technology, something Intel has had for years. AMD released the Ryzen 7 Summit Ridge series CPUs on the 2nd of March 2017. Mid-range Ryzen 5 series followed on the 11th of April 2017. Entry level Ryzen 3 series arrived on the 27th of July 2017. As of 2019, AMD's Ryzen processors outsold Intel's consumer desktop processors. In January 2020, AMD announced their Ryzen Mobile 4000, the first 7 nm 8-core high-performance mobile processor. This generation is based on the Zen 2 architecture. On PassMark's Single thread performance test, the Ryzen 5 5600x bested all other CPUs besides the Ryzen 9 5950X. In August 2022, AMD announced initial lineup of CPUs based on the new Zen 4 architecture.
Console Chip Dominance
In 2012, CEO Rory Read began a program to offer semi-custom designs. Customers could work with AMD to design custom chips based on intellectual property. These semi-custom designs won as APUs in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. They also powered subsequent consoles like the PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. Financially, these products represented a majority of company revenue in 2016. The Steam Deck, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Series S all use chips based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture. Each system has proprietary tweaks and different configurations compared to commercially available APUs. In March 2013, AMD announced it would power all three major next-generation consoles. The Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 are both powered by a custom-built AMD APU. The Nintendo Wii U is powered by an AMD GPU. Having processors in all three consoles assisted developers with cross-platform development. This strategy greatly increased support for their products across the board.
Expanding Into AI And Computing
AMD acquired Xilinx in October 2020, completing the transaction in February 2022 through an all-stock deal valued at approximately $60 billion. Xilinx remained a wholly owned subsidiary until its brand was phased out in June 2023. Current product lines now bear the AMD name. In July 2024, AMD announced acquisition of Silo AI, a Finnish-based artificial intelligence start-up, in a $665 million all-cash deal. In August 2024, the company signed a deal to acquire ZT Systems for $4.9 billion. ZT Systems creates custom computing infrastructure used for AI tasks. As of July 2025, Intel holds 63.3% of the server CPU market while AMD has reached 36.5%. In March 2024, a rally in semiconductor stocks pushed AMD's valuation above $300B for the first time. On the 10th of October 2025, AMD and OpenAI announced a multibillion-dollar partnership. OpenAI committed to purchasing 6 gigawatts worth of AMD chips over the next five years. This is expected to translate to tens of billions of dollars in new revenue by 2027.