AMD will create high-value R&D jobs during the grant 5-year time frame

Feb 11, 2010 08:25 GMT  ·  By
AMD signs Memorandum of Understanding with Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
   AMD signs Memorandum of Understanding with Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade

Advanced Micro Devices has announced that its Canada branch is receiving a five-year grant of $56.4 million CAD ($52.8M) from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, as part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two parties. In exchange for the grant, AMD Canada will be offering a high number of high-value R&D jobs during the grant time frame. Ontario will invest $11.2 million CAD when formally sealing the deal, with the rest set to be delivered as periodic payments during the grant period.

The company's Canada operation is based on Markham, Ontario and is its largest R&D center outside of the U.S. The branch employs 1,600 people, out of which about 100 are engineering student participants in internship and co-op programs. AMD has already invested about $1 billion in its Canada branch during the past five years and will continue to heavily fuel Fusion-related research, as is part of the agreement. The company also plans to tighten its collaboration with local universities.

“Our support will help AMD to revolutionize how we use computers — by creating a new generation of “fusion” processors that will move the computing experience forward in powerful ways,” Minister of Economic Development and Trade Sandra Pupatello said. “This project has our government excited, because AMD’s innovations will be used in key sectors that we support, such as education, medicine and research.”

“With this partnership, Ontario will be at the forefront of helping to bring this game-changing technology to market, and will deepen the province’s reputation as a seat of technology innovation,” said Dirk Meyer, AMD president and CEO. “AMD Fusion technology is set to enable significant breakthroughs in personal computing and our R&D facility in Markham, Ontario is playing an instrumental role in creating this technology. AMD Canada is a critical part of our global footprint, and a wellspring of our technical innovation.”

Fusion is AMD's brand name for its upcoming next-generation devices known as Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), a new type of processors that combine CPU computing capabilities with advanced GPU compute power. The first of these chips will be the Llano, currently set for launch during the first half of 2011.