AMD to set up offices in India

BANGALORE: Advanced Micronic Devices (AMD) who beat Intel to announce the

first 1GHz microprocessor has now announced that it would set up its

representative offices in India along with AMD Athlon centres in Hyderabad,

Chennai and Bangalore.

"We will be setting up our offices before the end of the year besides

opening upto 15 Athlon centres with an estimated investment of about $5000 for

each such centre," area channel sales manager K. S. Chong said here. These

would serve as a communication centre and demonstration site for the company's

latest products besides providing users with professional technical assistance,

he said, adding the centres would also serve as a reference point for

recommended PC hardware components. Each centre would be strategically located

for easy access, Chong said.

The company would be appointing retailers in each city to run the Athlon

centres, Chong said, adding that while the centre at Delhi would be functional

from Wednesday, centres at Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Calcutta would

begin basic operations by the end of the year.

The company - which has begun commercial sale of its 1ghz processor launched

in August last year - would be sourcing the processor from its FAB 30 plant

located in Germany, authorized representative Ajay Kapure said. AMD has already

invested nearly $1.9 billion in the plant over the last three years, he said,

and pointed out that the company would be launching its other products by the

end of this year.