Analysts Forecast Big Q4 Losses for AMD

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. will report fourth- quarter results next week with Wall Street projecting bigger losses at the struggling chip giant. Analysts expect AMD to report a loss of 36 cents on revenue of $1.79 billion, compared with a loss of 4 cents, on revenue of 1.77 billion in the year-ago period, according to Thomson Financial. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company has been struggling to become profitable over the past year as it faced stiffer competition from archrival Intel and grappled with the cost of a major acquisition. AMD reported a wider-than-expected third-quarter loss of $396 million in October, largely due to a $120 million charge for its merger with ATI Technologies in 2006. The company has also struggled with product roll-out delays and mounting operating costs that some analysts warned were not sustainable. Analyst also foretell that AMD could bounce back as a stronger competitor, especially with the graphics technologies it now has after the ATI acquisition. The company also got a boost recently from an Abu Dhabi firm, which invested $622 million in AMD. Executives vowed last month that AMD will be back on its feet in 2008, and that recent production missteps will not be repeated.