AMD to set up offices in India

BANGALORE: Advanced Micronic Devices (AMD) who beat Intel to announce the
first 1GHz microprocessor has now announced that it would set up its
representative offices in India along with AMD Athlon centres in Hyderabad,
Chennai and Bangalore.

"We will be setting up our offices before the end of the year besides
opening upto 15 Athlon centres with an estimated investment of about $5000 for
each such centre," area channel sales manager K. S. Chong said here. These
would serve as a communication centre and demonstration site for the company's
latest products besides providing users with professional technical assistance,
he said, adding the centres would also serve as a reference point for
recommended PC hardware components. Each centre would be strategically located
for easy access, Chong said.

The company would be appointing retailers in each city to run the Athlon
centres, Chong said, adding that while the centre at Delhi would be functional
from Wednesday, centres at Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Calcutta would
begin basic operations by the end of the year.

The company - which has begun commercial sale of its 1ghz processor launched
in August last year - would be sourcing the processor from its FAB 30 plant
located in Germany, authorized representative Ajay Kapure said. AMD has already
invested nearly $1.9 billion in the plant over the last three years, he said,
and pointed out that the company would be launching its other products by the
end of this year.