AMD to lay off 500 more in its streamlining effort

Yesterday, chip designer AMD said it will be continuing its re-structuring efforts by cutting 500 jobs internationally, in addition to cuts it had already announced in the spring.

Sunnyvale, California's Advanced Micro Devices is the second largest producer of x86 microprocessors worldwide, behind Intel. Since last year, the company has been going through various stages of what it called its "Asset Light/Asset Smart" move, to streamline business and return it to profitability.

AMD has been losing money seemingly independently of the economic crisis, and has had an eight quarter losing streak. In other words, AMD has been losing money for two years straight.

In October, AMD spun off its fabrication division into a new joint venture with Abu Dhabi capital investment firm ATIC, and in August it pulled out of its Digital TV business. In a restructuring announced last April, the company said it would be laying off 1,600 employees worldwide, or roughly 10% of its workforce.

Wednesday's announcement affects three percent of AMD's global staff, with immunity given to the nearly 3,000 employees of the spun-off fabrication venture.