Two years ago, Hector Ruiz, the CEO of AMD, was almost named CDN’s Top Newsmaker for the company’s acquisition of ATI. The magazine named ATI’s CEO David Orton instead.
But that bit of news still lives with Ruiz, who had to step down as chief executive this year in favour of Dirk Mayer and through a complex investment fund/merger deal split the chipmaker into two companies.
Advanced Micro Devices, the company that designs chips, will be one entity, while two investment funds owned by the government of Abu Dhabi will contribute new capital and take control of the chip-making part of the business.
The Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), created by the government of Abu Dhabi, will tentatively call its portion of AMD The Foundry Co. and contribute additional funds over the next five years to build new chip fabrication plants.
With that, Ruiz resigned as chairman of AMD to become chairman of the chip business.
The companies expect to close the deal at the beginning of next year, if they get approval from AMD shareholders and regulators including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
“ATIC and AMD are the ideal partners with which to create The Foundry Company,” Ruiz said. “Working together allows us to combine ATIC’s long-term vision and patient capital with our manufacturing leadership, innovation and highly-skilled workforce.
Moreover, The Foundry Company’s presence in Upstate New York alongside IBM and other research leaders will cement the region’s position as one of the world’s premier centers of nanotechnology development.”
