Motorola mulls over AMD Dresden stake

What do Motorola and AMD have in common? Neither can make chips quickly enough to satisfy demand. What’s the difference between Motorola and AMD? In essence it boils down to one thing – money. Motorola has heaps of the stuff, while AMD has very shallow pockets indeed. But now seems likely that Motorola is going to help out AMD, by taking a stake in its Dresden, Germany fab. By selling 50 per cent of Dresden, AMD could net up to $1 billion. AMD licenses Motorola's 0.18 micron process with copper connects, so it would be relatively easy for Motorola to take up production at the plant. Does this mean AMD Dresden will be pumping out G4s sometime next year? Motorola certainly needs some new production capacity and quick -- yesterday, Apple revealed its Q4 results would suffer because of Motorola’s inability to ramp up G4 CPU production. Dresden represents AMD’s leap into the manufacturing big-time league. It also represents a huge financial millstone, and this will continue to weigh heavily on the company in the near-term, certainly until volume Athlon production kicks off in February next year. The company has searched for a fab partner for months (which may be where those curious Siemens AMD takeover rumours sprang from last week). We’re rooting for its negotiations with Motorola to succeed. AMD needs the money, and The Register needs a strong, healthy underdog to tease (currently it’s too damn easy, and AMD get’s too damn cross). ® Closely related story AMD needs cash for the Dresden money pit