Dave Kroll (center left, back row) and AMD CEO Dirk Meyer (center right, back row) with the AMD team in Hyderabad, India

There’s something special about this place… a spirit at AMD that is unique and different from any company I’ve ever worked (AMD alumni will tell you that, too).  May 1 marked AMD’s 40^th Anniversary and it’s worth taking the time to reflect on our history, why this company is unique and why AMD’s role in the computer industry is significant and important.

Passion

First, AMD employees possess an indomitable passion to compete and thrive in one of the world’s most complex and challenging industries.  At our core, this is what motivates us. Always has, always will.

Treat people with respect

This goes for every day work interactions as well as dealing with customers.  We win or lose together as a team. And AMD is a place that doesn’t lose sight of the fact that we’re all human, we have families, personal lives, etc. 

We’re not baking brownies here

CPUs and GPUs are arguably the most complex technology humans have ever developed (our upcoming “Istanbul” six-core server processor has more than 900 million transistors on it. Think about that for a second, mind-blowing…)

We drive performance and value for consumers

In 1997, we launched the popular K6 processor that first helped drive PC prices below $1,000, making computers more available to mainstream consumers. And today, we still offer superior value at virtually every price point. No matter how much you want to spend, AMD technology powers many of the best PCs with the best features.

AMD drives innovation

• Despite our chief CPU competitor’s resources approximating 10x ours, we’ve managed to blaze the innovation trail in our industry for10 years running. See for yourself, many of the major innovations in x86 processors have come from your friends at AMD
• In 1999, we launched the AMD Athlon^TM processor, AMD’s first CPU that didn’t plug directly into an Intel CPU socket, and leapfrogged Intel with a next-generation CPU that was the first to break the 1GHz barrier.
• In April 2003, we launched the AMD Opteron^TM microprocessor with new 64-bit extensions (AMD64) and an integrated memory controller and entered the server market. Intel has followed AMD’s path in 64-bit and multi-core ever since (and must really hate that…)
• We foresaw and drove power-efficiency as a key feature set and continue to offer industry-recognized, optimized power/price/performance CPUs for datacenter virtualization and cloud computing servers.
• We combined forces in 2006 with the great talent of ATI and were first to foresee and drive towards the integration of graphics and microprocessors to support the current and future wave of graphics, HD, video applications. Others are following.
• And we’re not done yet…

 Choice matters

• No computer manufacturer anywhere in the world wants or chooses to operate under the thumb of a monopoly supplier (let alone subjugate their brand to an ingredient brand). Despite Intel’s tactics to coerce OEMs not to do business with AMD, we continue to innovate, add value and differentiation, and stay focused on serving our customers. Growing antitrust scrutiny from regulators around the world suggests that time is running out on Intel’s monopoly grip on our industry.
• Ask yourself, what if AMD wasn’t in the space? We might all be using more expensive, Itanium-based PCs — and HD graphics and gaming wouldn’t be anywhere where it is today.
• We play a critical role of offering choice and differentiation in this market. And in a David vs. Goliath fight, trust me, it’s more inspiring and fun to be David. And we never let our David status deter us even when Goliath is clearly breaking the rules as antitrust regulators have shown.

Customers and users matter

• We love to see what people make and do with our technology, from gamers to datacenters. Helping our customers win makes our day.
• Because at the end of the day, we don’t create technology for technology’s sake. We innovate to help people improve the quality of their lives.

So, these are several of the reasons why I and nearly 11,000 AMDers come to work each day.  We love pushing the envelope of innovation – designing and building amazing computing and graphics technology to excite people, improve the quality of their lives and enjoyment of technology.  And AMD is sticky, once an AMDer, always an AMDer – and a thank you and congrats to all those who’ve worked here at some point.

So yes, when so many tech companies live and died in a fraction of the time AMD has endured, we’re proud to be 40. We’ll see you at 50…

Nigel Dessau 40th Anniversary blog: 40 is the new 20

Patrick Moorhead 40th Anniversary blog: AMD: 40 years of “Just doing it”

Dave Kroll is Vice President, Global Communications at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied