Having completed its metamorphosis into separate design and manufacturing firms, AMD probably feels as though a major weight has been lifted from its shoulders. However, the company still has some financial ground to make up. On the bright side, AMD's first quarter revenue of $1.77 billion remained flat (rather than tumbling backwards) compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. However, it also represents a decrease of 21 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008.

"AMD’s sequential microprocessor unit and revenue growth in difficult economic conditions demonstrate we can grow in an environment where customers are looking for maximum value," said Dirk Meyer, AMD president and CEO. "We delivered on a number of important priorities in the first quarter. We launched GLOBALFOUNDRIES, maintained our cadence of new product and platform introductions, and made solid progress on our restructuring activities. The result is a more nimble AMD, capable of achieving long-term success based on our strengths designing and integrating industry-leading computing and graphics technologies."

Despite turning in a $416 million first quarter loss, Meyer said AMD is "well positioned" as people have become more discerning for paying only what they need. Moving forward, the chip maker plans to switch over completely to 45nm this quarter and expects a positive cash flow for the second half of 2009.

IBM this week announced that members of its Bulk Process Alliance -- Globalfoundris, Chartered Semiconductor, Sasmung Electronics, ST Microelectronics, Infineon Technologies -- have begun jointly developing 28nm, high-k metal gate, low-power bulk complementary metal oxide semiconductor process technology (forgot about saying that three times fast, try doing it just once!).

"Clients can begin their designs today in leadership 32nm HKMG technology and then transition to 28nm technology for density and power advantages, without the need for a major redesign," IBM said. "By assuring a path from 32nm to 28nm technology, this migration methodology offers clients lower risk, reduced cost, and faster time-to-market."

The move to 28nm is an important one that purports to provide 40 percent better performance than current 45nm parts, while also reducing power consumption by 20 percent. Moreover the HKMG technology offers better power leakage characteristics for longer battery life, which added altogether will be a boon for mobile devices.

How do you celebrate the 1-year anniversary of what's become one of the hottest selling chip series in recent history? Make it faster, and then show it off during a keynote at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in Beijing..

It was Intel senior VP and GM of the Ultra Mobility Group Anand Chandrasekher who gave the keynote, which included the first live demo of Intel's next-generation Atom-based MID platform, codenamed "Moorestown." The upcoming platform is due out in 2010 and consists of a system-on-chip that integrates a 45nm Atom CPU, graphics, video and memory controller, and I/O hub.

During the keynote, Intel also announced a pair of new Atom processors for MIDs. First on the lineup is the Z515, which incorporates the new Intel Burst Performance Technology (BPT) and runs at 1.2GHz. But of more interest in the Z550. This chip races along at 2GHz and supports Hyperthreading, and it does so at under 3 watts of power.