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AMD and ATI to Create Processing Powerhouse; $5.4 Billion Acquisition Will Drive Growth, Innovation and Choice; AMD and ATI to Hold Joint Executive Conference Call Today at 8:00 a.m. EDT.


NEW YORK New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
 -- AMD (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, www.amd.com) A major manufacturer of semiconductor devices including x86-compatible CPUs, embedded processors, flash memories, programmable logic devices and networking chips.  (NYSE NYSE

See: New York Stock Exchange
:AMD) and ATI (ATI Technologies Inc., Markham Ontario, http://ati.amd.com) A leading manufacturer of graphics chips and display adapters. Founded in 1985 by K. Y. Ho, Benny Lau and Lee Lau, ATI chips and boards are widely used by OEMs.  (NASDAQ NASDAQ
 in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations

U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on
:ATYT ATYT ATI Technologies, Inc (stock symbol) ) (TSX TSX Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE before April, 2002)
TSX Transfer from Stack Pointer to Index
TSX True Space Extension
:ATY ATY Air Textured Yarn (textile)
ATY Watertown, SD, USA (Airport Code)
ATY After-Tax Yield
) today announced plans to join forces in a transaction valued at approximately $5.4 billion. The combination will create a processing powerhouse by bringing AMD's technology leadership in microprocessors together with ATI's strengths in graphics, chipsets and consumer electronics. The result: A new and more formidable company, determined to drive growth, innovation and choice for its customers, particularly in the commercial and mobile computing Using a computing device while in transit. Mobile computing implies wireless transmission, but wireless transmission does not necessarily imply mobile computing. Fixed wireless applications use satellites, radio systems and lasers to transmit between permanent objects such as buildings  segments and in the rapidly-growing consumer electronics market. Combining technologies, people, and complementary strengths, AMD plans to deliver in 2007 customer-centric platforms for the benefit of customers who want to collaborate in the development of differentiated solutions.

AMD's acquisition of ATI will position the new company to deliver innovations that fulfill the increasing demand for more integrated solutions in key market segments while also continuing to develop "best-of-breed" discrete products that empower customers to choose the combination of technologies that best serves their needs. In 2008 and beyond, AMD aims to move beyond current technological configurations to transform processing technologies, with silicon-specific platforms that integrate microprocessors and graphics processors to address the growing need for general-purpose, media-centric, data-centric and graphic-centric performance. Thus, the combined company intends to empower its customers to create their own unique products and solutions within an open-innovation ecosystem free from artificial barriers to customer success.

"ATI shares our passion and complements our strengths: technology leadership and customer centric innovation," said AMD Chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board.  Hector Ruiz. "Bringing these two great companies together will allow us to transcend what we have accomplished as individual businesses and reinvent our industry as the technology leader and partner of choice. We believe AMD and ATI will drive growth and innovation for the entire industry, enabling our partners to create differentiated solutions and empowering our customers to choose what is best for them."

"This combination means accelerated growth for ATI, and broader horizons for our employees," said Dave Orton, President and CEO of ATI. "All of our product lines will benefit. Joining with AMD will enable us to innovate aggressively on the PC platform, and continue to invest significantly in our consumer business to stay in front of our markets."

"Windows Vista The current version of Windows for the desktop. It was released in late 2006 for businesses and early 2007 for consumers.

Vista adds numerous features, including improved security and advanced multimedia capabilities.
 will deliver incredible advances in the user experience as a result of advancements in graphics integration and performance," said Jim Allchin, Co-President of Microsoft's Platforms & Services Division. "We're excited by the potential of what AMD and ATI can deliver together to enhance the Windows Vista experience for our customers even further."

Under the terms of the transaction, AMD will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of ATI for a combination of $4.2 billion in cash and 57 million shares of AMD common stock, based on the number of shares of ATI common stock outstanding on July 21, 2006. All outstanding options and RSUs of ATI will be assumed. Based upon the closing price of AMD common stock on July 21, 2006 of $18.26 a share, the consideration for each outstanding share of ATI common stock would be $20.47, comprised of $16.40 of cash and 0.2229 shares of AMD common stock.

AMD anticipates it will finance the cash portion of the transaction with a combination of cash and new debt. AMD has obtained a $2.5 billion term loan commitment from Morgan Stanley To comply with Wikipedia's , the introduction of this article needs a complete rewrite.  Senior Funding, Inc. which, together with combined existing cash, cash equivalents, and short term investments balances of approximately $3.0 billion, provides full funding for the transaction.

ATI has received an opinion from its financial advisors that the transaction from a financial point of view is fair to its shareholders. The transaction was unanimously approved by the board of directors of each company. The transaction is subject to ATI shareholder approval, Canadian court supervision of a Plan of Arrangement, and other regulatory approvals including merger notification filings in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Canada and other jurisdictions, as well as customary closing conditions. In the event that the transaction does not close, ATI has agreed to pay AMD a termination fee termination fee

The one-time charge for terminating or transferring an individual retirement account. If a financial institution charges a termination fee, the fee must be spelled out in the original agreement that is signed when the account is opened.
 of $162.0 million under circumstances specified in the acquisition agreement. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2006.

A Compelling Financial Opportunity

AMD expects that the transaction will be slightly accretive to earnings in 2007, and meaningfully accretive in 2008, before the inclusion of ATI acquisition-related charges, based upon AMD's plans to deliver more integrated and advanced platform solutions and thereby improve its position in commercial clients, mobile computing, gaming, media and emerging markets. AMD anticipates that it will reduce operating expenses Operating expenses

The amount paid for asset maintenance or the cost of doing business, excluding depreciation. Earnings are distributed after operating expenses are deducted.
 by approximately $75 million for the combined company by the end of 2007.

The combined company would have achieved approximately $7.3 billion(1) in total consolidated sales during the last four quarters with a workforce of approximately 15,000 employees. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale ([sʌniveil]) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 131,760. , the company will maintain sales, design and manufacturing centers worldwide and major business centers in Silicon Valley, Austin, Texas and Markham, Ontario Markham (2006 Population 261,573[0]) is located in York Region, directly north of Toronto, and is part of Toronto's CMA. It is larger than many Canadian cities. Despite its qualifications regarding population, it has not had the title of city conferred upon it by the  - all valued centers of innovation for the combined company. AMD's current executive team will be complemented by the addition of ATI President and CEO Dave Orton. Orton will serve as an executive vice president of the ATI business division, reporting to the AMD Office of the CEO, comprised of Chairman and CEO Hector Ruiz and President and Chief Operating Officer Chief Operating Officer (COO)

The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president.
 Dirk Meyer Dirk Meyer was co-architect of the DEC Alpha 21064 and 21264 microprocessors. He also worked at Intel in its microprocessor design group.

He joined AMD in 1996, where he personally led the team that designed and developed the AMD Athlon processor.
. In addition, under the terms of the acquisition agreement, two ATI directors will join AMD's board of directors upon closing of the transaction.

The collective roster of AMD and ATI's strong customer relationships represents a "who's who" of the computing and consumer electronics industries. Drawing upon a shared culture of customer-centric innovation and engineering excellence, the combined company will be well positioned to meet customer demand for more innovative solutions, system-level engineering and faster time-to-market.

Conference Call

The companies will host a financial analyst and press conference call today at 8 a.m. EDT EDT
abbr.
Eastern Daylight Time


EDT Eastern Daylight Time

EDT n abbr (US) (= Eastern Daylight Time) → hora de verano de Nueva York

EDT 
 (5 a.m. PDT PDT
abbr.
Pacific Daylight Time


PDT Pacific Daylight Time

PDT n abbr (US) (= Pacific Daylight Time) → hora de verano del PacĂ­fico

PDT 
). The call can be accessed at 612-326-1027 (U.S.). Audio of the conference call will be available live and also http://www.amd.com/announcement.

For those unable to listen to the live call, a telephone replay will be available beginning July 24, 2006 at approximately 11:00 a.m. EDT through July 30, 2006. That call can be accessed by dialing 800-475-6701 (U.S.) or 320-365-3844 (international) with conference call ID 837580.

About AMD

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative microprocessor solutions for computing, communications and consumer electronics markets. Founded in 1969, AMD is dedicated to delivering superior computing solutions based on customer needs that empower users worldwide. For more information visit www.amd.com.

About ATI

ATI Technologies Inc. is a world leader in the design and manufacture of innovative 3D graphics, PC platform technologies and digital media silicon solutions. An industry pioneer since 1985, ATI is the world's foremost graphics processor unit (GPU GPU: see secret police.


(Graphics Processing Unit) A specialized logic chip devoted to rendering 2D or 3D images. Display adapters contain one or more GPUs for fast graphics rendering.
) provider and is dedicated to deliver leading-edge performance solutions for the full range of PC and Mac desktop and notebook platforms, workstation, set-top and digital television, game console and handheld device markets. With fiscal 2005 revenues of US $2.2 billion, ATI has approximately 4,000 employees in the Americas, Europe and Asia. ATI common shares trade on NASDAQ (ATYT) and the Toronto Stock Exchange Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE)

Canada's largest stock exchange, trading approximately 1,200 company stocks and 33 options.
 (ATY).

Safe Harbor Safe Harbor

1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated.

2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive.
 Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and  of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as "would," "may," "will," "expects," and other terms with similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations and speak only as of the date of this release and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. The material factors and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, without limitation, the following: (1) the possibility that there are unexpected delays in obtaining regulatory approvals, (2) failure to obtain approval of ATI shareholders or the court of the Plan of Arrangement, (3) actions that may be taken by the competitors, customers and suppliers of AMD or ATI that may cause the transaction to be delayed or not completed, (4) the possibility that the revenues, cost savings, growth prospects and any or other synergies expected from the proposed transaction may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected, (5) the possibility that the transaction may not be accretive as expected, (6) that Intel Corporation's pricing, marketing programs, product bundling, new product introductions or other activities will negatively impact sales, (7) that the company may require additional capital and may not be able to raise sufficient capital, on favorable terms or at all, (8) delays associated with integrating the companies, including employees and operations, after the transaction is completed, (9) the possible impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets resulting from the transaction and the resulting impact on the combined company's assets and earnings, (10) unexpected variations in market growth and demand for the combined company's products (in the mixes available) and technologies, (11) rapid and frequent technology changes in the computing and consumer electronics segments, (12) potential constraints on the ability to develop, launch and ramp new products on a timely basis, (13) R&D costs associated with the development of new products, and (14) other factors that may affect future results of the combined company described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the management information circular Information Circular

A document sent to shareholders outlining important matters to be discussed at the annual shareholders' meeting.

Notes:
Sent along with a proxy, the information circular may cover matters such as the election of the Board of Directors, possible
 to be mailed to ATI's shareholders and in AMD and ATI's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") that are available on the SEC's web site located at http://www.sec.gov, including the section entitled "Risk Factors" in AMD' s Form 10-Q Form 10-Q

See 10-Q.
 for the fiscal quarter ended March 26, 2006 and the section entitled "Risks and Uncertainties" in Exhibit 1 to ATI's Form 40-F for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2005. Please see Item 3.12 "Narrative Description of the Business - Risks and Uncertainties" in ATI's 2005 Annual Information Form and the Risks and Uncertainties section of ATI's annual MD&A on page 30 of ATI's 2005 Annual report filed on the SEDAR SEDAR System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval
SEDAR Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review
 website maintained by the Canadian Securities Administrators Canadian Securities Administrators(CSA) is a forum for the 13 securities regulators of Canada's provinces and territories to coordinate and harmonize regulation of the Canadian capital markets.  at http://www.sedar.com. Readers are strongly urged to read the full cautionary statements contained in those materials. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or any other reason.

Additional Information

In connection with the proposed transaction, ATI intends to file a management proxy circular with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Investors and security holders are urged to read the management proxy circular when it becomes available because it will contain important information about AMD, ATI and the transaction. Investors and security holders may obtain the management proxy circular free of charge on SEDAR website maintained by the Canadian Securities Administrators at http://www.sedar.com as well as on the SEC's website located at http://www.sec.gov. Investors and security holders may obtain any documents relating to the transaction filed by AMD with the SEC free of charge at the SEC's website located at http://www.sec.gov and filed by ATI on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

(C) 2006 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. and ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ATI and ATI product and product feature names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

(1) Excluding AMD memory segment for the third and fourth quarters of 2005.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Business Wire
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Business Wire
Date:Jul 24, 2006
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