Record sales for AMD but analysts disappointed

Chip maker now claims presence in 16 per cent of all PCs

AMD failed to live up to analysts’ expectations, despite record sales growth during the fourth quarter of its financial year, ending 27 December. Sales were up 16 per cent on the previous quarter to $788.8 million, which was less than the $800 million Wall Street had anticipated. Q4 97 saw AMD record sales of $613.1 million - making Q4 98 an increase of 29 per cent year-on-year. Q4 98 profit stood at $22.3 million, the same quarter last year saw AMD record a loss of $12.3 million. For the full year, AMD saw sales increase by eight per cent to $2.54 billion, which resulted in a net loss of $103.9 million. In 1997 sales were $2.3 billion, with a net loss of $21 million. AMD shipped more than 13.5 million processors from the AMD-K6 family, more than 8.5 million of which were K6-2 chips. The company claims that 16 per cent of all Windows-based PCs contain an AMD chip, with this proportion growing to 38 per cent of sub-$1,000 PCs. ®