Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices announced it would ramp up its chip design team in the city. "Over the next one year, we will double the team," said Mr Ajay M. Marathe, President, AMD India.

A 100 hardware engineers are currently working on latest chip designs, besides software and alliances management (working with partner firms to consolidate knowledge). Besides platform engineering and research and development, the firm is also strengthening its sales and marketing teams at its centre in Bangalore.

The firm owns 23 per cent of the desktop PC market in India, according to analyst firm IDC. This, said Mr Marathe, was 50 per cent higher than the share in the October-December quarter.

AMD also introduced socket AM2 series of processors, which will enable Windows Vista users to take advantage of new capabilities such as virtualisation (running different operating systems on a single PC). Energy-efficient processors, with up to 40 per cent reduction in power, were also revealed.

"In this age of $70 for a barrel of oil and power cuts every other day, these processors will make a difference in India," said Mr Mukund Ramarathnam, Director, Marketing, AMD India. The firm also announced that its `Live!' digital home entertainment platform would now be available in Bangalore, through Vertex Techno Solutions. AMD Live Mediacenter laptops are expected to be out in the second half of 2006.

Taken from Business Line

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