AMD ships 500 millionth processor

AMD is 40 years old

AMD said on Wednesday that has shipped its 500 millionth x86 processor, achieving the milestone 40 years after the company was founded.

"I am excited about what we plan to bring to our customers on cloud server computing and media-rich consumer usage models," said Pat Moorhead, AMD vice president of marketing, in a blog post.

"Pundits will take shots and that's OK, as it tends to motivate us and enhance the sweetness of our successes in the end."

AMD is planning to run a free notebook contest to mark the occasion and the anniversary. Users will be asked to answer questions about the company, and winners will have a chance to win one of four HP notebooks.

The sales milestone comes during a rough patch for AMD. The chip maker's second-quarter results showed a 13 per cent decline in shipments and a loss of $330m (£201m).