AMD posts sixth quarterly loss in a row

AMD lost $358m between January and March 2008

AMD has posted its sixth consecutive quarterly loss, despite a 22 per cent year-on-year increase in sales.

The company lost $358m between January and March 2008, as it struggled to catch up with Intel's latest technical advances in 45nm manufacturing.

AMD posted revenues of $1.51bn for its first quarter, compared to $1.23bn a year ago and $1.77bn for the fourth quarter of 2007.

The poor results came as no shock to industry analysts, who were warned last week that AMD would miss earnings expectations by about $100m.

AMD chief executive Hector Ruiz said that the chip firm is addressing its loss making situation with additional restructuring. The company recently announced job cuts of 16,800, around 10 per cent of its global workforce.

"We will also have an opportunity to further restructure the company for increased focus and added flexibility, which places us in a better position to deliver sustainable, profitable growth," said Ruiz in a conference call on Thursday.

AMD will also be hoping that the late arrival of its much anticipated quad-core Opteron processor line will help it bounce back in the second half of 2008, after a design flaw delayed its release last year.

The chipmaker is now shipping Opteron processors in volume. HP and Dell are offering systems based on the new chip.