AMD Spins Off Assembly and Testing Divison

AMD has been starting a whole bunch of joint ventures as of late. After creating a joint venture earlier in the year to make x86 servers for China and licence their IP, the company has inked another deal for their manufacturing business. In a deal with Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics Co., Ltd, AMD has sold off most of their stake in their assembly, test, mark, and pack (ATMP) capabilities.

These facilities are used to test various computer chips like CPUs and GPUs as well as perform packaging duties. With their declining market share and having sold their fabs off already, AMD is getting rid of the last vestiges of being a direct hardware manufacturer. AMD will keep 15% stake in the company while Nantong Fujitsu gets 85%. As a part of the deal, AMD gets $371 million which comes out to $320 million after taxes and such. The company also gets to get rid of having to pay for the operation of the ATMP.

Honestly, getting rid of the ATMP division makes a lot of sense. AMD probably can’t make use of the entire capability and by letting someone else run it, they can offload most of the costs. Nantong Fujitsu is willing to pick it up since they can offer the excess capacity to other customers. The smart thing was keeping a decent stake in the company, something that should have been done when Global Foundries was spun off. With all of the cash infusion this quarter, the company should be back in the black, with Zen and Polaris carrying that forward in the future.