Microsoft DirectX is a collection of APIs for handling multimedia and video games. The current version available is DirectX 10 and it comes bundled with Windows Vista. There isn’t a way to run DirectX 10 applications on Windows XP and the next version of DirectX will be running on Windows 7. DirectX 11 recently was demonstrated at the Computex conference in Taiwan by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Below is the full press release (via Engadget):
Earlier this week, Intel Corporation was fined $1.45 billion by the European Union regarding competitive practices. The $1.45 billion fine imposed on Intel is a victory for Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD). AMD is a major competitor of Intel and was responsible for the investigation. This fine is the largest that has been imposed on a company, even beating out the fine imposed on Microsoft last year.
Intel gave computer manufacturing companies rebates to encourage them to not use AMD’s chips. Intel has denied those charges and vows to appeal the ruling made against them. However Intel competitors may take civil cases against them using the Commissions regulatory action as a reference for the lawsuits.
In Korea, Intel was issued a $25.4 million fine for abuse in their dominant position around 2008. Three years before that, Intel violated the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) anti-monopoly laws by forcing full exclusivity with five Japanese PC companies.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is gaining on competitor Intel more and more. In Q1 2009, the overall U.S. microprocessor shipments dropped 10.9% from the quarter before. Overall Intel had a 77.3% market share and AMD had 22.3%. AMD gained 4.6% this quarter.
Even though shipments have slowed down, the rate of decline is expected to lessen.
“The PC processor market continued to reflect significant decline in end demand for most of 1Q09,” stated Shane Rau, a director at research firm IDC. “However, some inventory replenishment by (PC makers) at the end of the quarter helped to slow the decline and bring the quarter in at a level only slightly worse than typical seasonal decline.”
The Atom processor shipped about 33% less in this quarter compared to the previous quarter indicating that there was less of a demand for netbooks this time around.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) has not had luck in the flash memory industry, but now they are getting into the graphics and microprocessors industry. A subsidiary of AMD called Fusion is being created that focuses on graphics and microprocessors is being formed and is taking some of the semiconductor company’s executives with them and is causing some shuffling.
Head of the microprocessor division Randy Allen will be leaving AMD as a result of the shuffling because he was not given a position at Fusion. Rick Bergman will become the head of the product division at Fusion. And Jeff VerHeul will lead the Processor Solutions Engineering team.
Chekib Akrout will become the head of the Advanced Technology Group at AMD. Nigel Dessau will now be leading the marketing group at AMD.
The European government may impose a massive fine on chipmaker Intel Corporation. The size of the penalty will be discussed amongst 27 government agencies in Europe. The European governments began their investigation when Advanced Micro Devices filed a complaint against Intel.
The European commission charged Intel with abusing its dominant position by giving large rebates to computer makers to stay with them, even beyond the actual cost of chips.
One of the most largest fines paid due to a ruling by the European commission is Microsoft. Microsoft was forced to pay $663 million for abusing dominance in a market as well. According to the New York Times, the fine imposed on Intel may even reach $1.3 billion.
Globalfoundries has hired Jim Kupec from Cypress Semiconductor for the top marketing position. Globalfoundries is a joint venture company between Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Advanced Technology Investment Company.
Kupec worked at Cypress for 15 years and became President of United Microelectronics Co. (UMC) USA before joining Globalfoundries. UMC is one of the biggest microchip companies in the world.
The most recent role Kupec had was serving as the COO of eSilicon, a circuit design company.
“The addition of Jim’s extensive foundry experience, on both the supplier and customer side of the business, underscores our commitment to building a world-class global foundry services provider,” stated Globalfoundries CEO Doug Grose.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) has announced that they have hired Bruce Claflin as the chairman of the company board of directors. Bruce replaces former CEO and Chairman Hector Ruiz. Ruiz is currently chairman of The Foundry Company.
Claflin has been on AMD’s board of directors since 2003. Dick Meyer will remain the CEO of the company.
Waleed Al Mokarrab has also been appointed to the board of directors. Waleed is the COO of Mubadala Development Company, based in Abu Dhabi.
Recently AMD spun off their manufacturing operations to Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) and Mubadala. AMD will be receiving $700 million in exchange for ownership in The Foundry Company from ATIC.
Spansion Inc. (NASDAQ:SPSN) laid off about 35% of their workforce last week and filed for Chapter 11 this week. The company has about $3.8 billion in assets and $2.4 billion in debt. The market valuation of the company right now is about $3.24 million with a current stock price of $0.02 per share. Spansion plans to restructure debt and focus on other profitable markets such as Internet protocol solutions and wireless products.
About 3,000 employees were laid off as part of the 35%. The job cuts would result in savings of about $225 million per year. Former CEO Bertrand Cambou stated on Friday that he is returning the $403,000 in severance he received because he was heartbroken about others bring laid off without severance. In 2007, Spansion had a $263.5 million net loss on $2.5 billion in revenue.
Spansion was formerly owned by AMD and Fujitsu. It was spun off in December 2005 and both of those companies remained as major stockholders in Spansion.
