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AMD posts narrower loss, lower sales

Advanced Micro Devices reports a net second-quarter loss of $330 million, but CEO says "New platform, microprocessor, and graphics introductions...position us well."

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
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Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday reported a net second-quarter loss of $330 million as the chipmaker offered a muted outlook for the rest of the year.

The $330 million loss, or 49 cents per share, compares favorably to a $1.2 billion loss, or $1.97 per share, in the same period last year. Analysts had forecast a loss of 47 cents per share.

Revenue of $1.18 was flat compared to the first quarter of 2009 and decreased 13 percent compared to the second quarter of 2008.

AMD expects revenue for the product company--which excludes the spun-off manufacturing operations--to be up slightly for the third quarter of 2009, a less positive outlook than the one Intel offered last week.

"Gross margin was disappointing," Dirk Meyer, AMD's president and CEO, said in a statement, referring to a crucial profit indicator. Gross margin was 37 percent compared to first-quarter gross margin of 43 percent. (Non-GAAP gross margin was 27 percent versus 35 percent in the prior quarter.)

But Meyer added: "New platform, microprocessor, and graphics introductions planned for the second half of 2009 position us well to improve margins and meet our financial goals for the year."

During the earnings conference call, Meyer spoke about the growth outlook for the rest of the year. "While we expect a return to sequential growth, I think it's too early to say, given the overall weakness in the macro economy, that we're going to return to normal seasonal growth," he said.

As a backdrop to the results, marker researcher iSuppli estimates that global PC unit shipments in the second quarter decreased by 5.2 percent compared to the same period in 2008. Shipments in the second quarter of 2009 declined to 66.5 million units, down from 70.2 million in the second quarter of 2008.