US semiconductor maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) will set up a wholly owned subsidiary in China to tap the potential in one of the world's largest computer markets, a senior company executive said on Friday.
"We are talking with governments in the country to establish a wholly owned foreign-invested enterprise (WOFIE) here," said Rob Herb, executive vice-president and chief sales and marketing officer of the world's second biggest computer chip maker.
He said the proposed WOFIE would be mainly a trading company of AMD processors and memory chips, but it may also be responsible for managing the chip maker's flash memory joint venture with Fujitsu and a semiconductor testing and assembling plant in Suzhou.
On Friday, the US semiconductor also released the world's first 64 bit computer processors based on Microsoft Windows XP 64 Edition, which are able to run both 32 bit and 64 bit applications.
The currently dominant 32-bit computing technology allows processors to manage computer memory of no less than 4 gigabytes, but the 64-bit technology can manage thousands of gigabytes in memory, which is in urgent need in the market owing to the enrichment and complexity of computing applications.
Both AMD and the No 1 player in the industry, Intel, have 64 bit processors for computer servers.
The AMD Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX series of products will be used for desktop and notebook computers respectively.
"AMD is now in a much better position than before to break Intel's monopoly," said Herb.
Despite its reputation as an enthusiast for coming up with innovative new technologies, it has not been successful in shaking its arch-rival's dominance in the computer chip market.
Herb said three of the top 10 computer makers in the Chinese market have already decided to release computers with AMD Athlon 64-bit processors soon.
(China Daily September 27, 2003)
