AMD drops low-cost PC effort

Friday, November 17, 2006

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) has dropped its line of low-cost PCs that were geared for developing nations, according to a filing by the company.

AMD (Sunnyvale, Calif.) dropped the Personal Internet Communicator (PIC), a device that cost $249 for the computer and a 15-inch monitor, according to the filing.

It sold the device in China, India, Mexico and Russia, but the company lost $16 million in the first nine months of 2006 on the product. ’’Revenue from sales of PIC products has not been material and in the third quarter of 2006, we decided to stop manufacturing PIC products,’’ according to the filing by the company.

AMD rolled out the product in 2004. Microprocessor supplier AMD announced the initiative to give 50 percent of the world’s population Internet connectivity and computing capabilities by 2015, revolving around the low-cost consumer device it has developed called the Personal Internet Communicator (PIC).

Under the initiative, coined 50×15, AMD partnered with organizations in several countries considered targets for improving technological access in.

Source: EE Times (link opens in a new window)