AMD Readying Fab 36

AMD has announced today that it is planning to hold the topping off ceremonyfor its AMD Fab 36 in Dresden, Germany on May 17, 2004. Among the expectedguests of honor are Germany's Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, Prof. GeorgMilbradt, the Minister President of the Free State of Saxony, and Hector Ruiz,the President and CEO of AMD.

"Only five months ago we broke ground for our next-generation wafer fab inDresden. Since then, we have seen a near flawless execution of our constructionmaster plan," said Hans Deppe, vice president and general manager of the AMDsite in Dresden. "The shell of the building is already more than 50 percentcomplete and we have already put the first roof trusses in place. Theconstruction of the central utility building is advancing just as fast. Now thatwe have made it through the winter, we are even more confident that we will beable to meet the next milestones of the project: AMD Fab 36 is expected to be'ready for equipment' in late 2004, first silicon test starts are scheduled formid-2005, and first commercial shipments are planned for the first half of2006."

AMD Fab 36 will implement the third generation of AMD's Automated PrecisionManufacturing (APM 3.0) in the production of 300mm wafers for leading-edgemicroprocessors. Hiring for the new fab has begun. AMD expects to createapproximately 200 new jobs in Dresden this year alone. The headcount of AMD Fab36 is planned to grow to approximately 1.000 by 2007. The expected investmentinto AMD Fab 36 amounts to $ 2.4 billion during the same time period. AMD Fab 36will be AMD's second microprocessor wafer fab in Dresden. The first facility,AMD Fab 30, started commercial production in Q2 2000. Currently, AMD employsabout 2.000 people in Dresden.