AMD chief calls for innovation to cut PC costs
         
    By siliconindia
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     Friday, 11 January 2008, 02:42 IST                                                   
                                                                                              
                                                                                          
                                                                                             
    
                                       
               
  
      
  
    
          
Hyderabad: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) chief Dirk Meyer, President and COO, has called for innovations in semiconductor manufacturing to reduce PC costs so that it can reach at least half the world's population by 2015. 
 
Meyer said in a technology conference at Hyderabad that semiconductor manufacturers should come up with new business models that would help reduce costs that have outpaced revenue growth recently. 
 
While companies such as AMD would continue to work on increasing transistor density on a single processor (that signifies the speed they offer in computing and other functions), the industry needs to innovate to bring down R&D expenditure, he said.  
 
According to him, the PC is a fundamental driver of growth in the semiconductor industry and pointed out that the transition of the machine from a mere computing instrument to a media-centric device, offered new opportunities in integrating multiple purposes and functions. 
 
Last week, Meyer inaugurated a second AMD R&D centre in Hyderabad. The center will focus on intellectual property creation in next generation consumer electronics, graphics and microprocessors.