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AMD: In for the long haul

Michael Kanellos CNET News

Published: 18 Aug 2003 15:45 BST

Advanced Micro Devices has been in business since 1969, has won praise for brilliant chip designs, and has made itself into a fixture in several different semiconductor markets.

Michael Kanellos, by contrast, got his first full-time job in 1987, earned kudos from his parents for agreeing to pay his own car insurance at the age of 25, and once held a summer job giving out coupons for free nickels in front of a casino.

But, by the end of the year, my lifetime net profit will probably be higher.

AMD is in the somewhat unusual position of running toward an all-time loss. From April 1970 to the end of the second quarter of 2003, the chipmaker's cumulative net income -- including the effect of acquisitions, sell-offs and charges -- comes to $186.6m, according to a tally of the net income figures culled from AMD's published financial statements and a review of documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This translates to an annual average net income of $5.65m. Put another way, the $186.4m in net income AMD amassed in 33 years is accomplished about every 2.5 weeks at Intel.

At $186.6m, AMD is still way ahead of me, but time is on my side. The company is expected to post a net loss of 38 cents a share, which translates to a $131.4m loss, in the third quarter, and to follow it up with a net loss of 22 cents a share, or $76m, in the fourth quarter, according to a consensus of analysts at First Call.

Those two successive losses will put them $20.8m in the hole. I have spent less than I've earned to date, a fact proven by account balances. Unless a massive garage sale takes place at One AMD Place in the next five months, I pull ahead.

The break-even date for AMD comes on 3 December.