AMD loses $611 million in Q1

CHIP MAKER, AMD said it would make a loss this quarter and it kept its word. The loss, however, was bigger than it had predicted, at a net figure of $611 million.

The firm's margins took a knock too. In the first quarter of last year, the firm made a profit of some $184.5 million on a margin of some 40 per cent. This year, margins slipped to 31 per cent leading chief beancounter, Robert J. Rivet to decribe the figures as "disappointing and unacceptable."

The firm had warned it was heading for a loss-making quarter and indicated the figure would be in the region of $250 million. That turned out to be not even half the final figure and CEO Hector Ruiz is unlikely to be playing Money for Nothing on his Stratocaster tonight.

Could be he's picking out the chords to Nothing Goin' On But The Rent instead.

Shareholders, having watched the value of their investment fall by half over the past twelve months were bailing out as the firm took a nine per cent hit in after hours trading.

Rivet had a go at talking things up in a statement which, going forward, with regard to the granularity of the ecosystem and asssuming monkeys don't fly out his butt, sounded something like this: "We are aligning our business model, capital expenditures and cost structure with the goal of accelerating our return to profitability. Lastly, our customer relationships remain solid, reflecting their confidence in our strategic direction, current and new products, and technology roadmaps."

In all, the company sold some $1.2 billion worth of chippery in the quarter, but failed to turn this into a profit.

It promised to do better next quarter. µ