AMD To Cut Costs Before Launch

Advanced Micro Devices, which has struggled through the market's weak spending on PCs this year, indicated last week that it will lower operating expenses by more than $300 million for 2003. AMD will accomplish much of the savings through layoffs and reduction of its capital expenditures by $100 million during the next year. A spokesman says the action will lead to a restructuring charge of several hundred million dollars for the fourth quarter.

The restructuring comes as AMD gets set to launch its Opteron processor, with simultaneous 32-bit and 64-bit compatibility, in the first half of next year. Supercomputer maker Cray has committed to using Opteron processors in a system it's building for the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia will use the Cray system to perform nuclear-weapon engineering simulations.