FINANCIAL ANALYSTS queued up to listen to Robert Rivet and Hector Ruiz, beancounter and boss respectively, chat about their Q3 earnings the firm reported last night. Ruiz said that AMD improved gross margin and grew its top line 30% over the same period a year ago. He said Credit Suisse, Merrill Launch, Microsoft, Qualcomm and many others have now dabbled their toes in the AMD64 business.
He calls AMD the "new AMD" repeatedly, which while it may be "customer centric" appears to have as the major element of its newness an ability to make money. He said that the firm"s processor business grew by 21% over the second quarter, and he said, he believed the firm grew share in that period. AMD had started shipping 90 nanometre processors during the period and said 50% of wafer starts will use that process technology by the end of 2004.