AMD suffered three years of consecutive losses as it failed to launch chips as scheduled and, more recently, because of lower chip sales during the recession. The company also took billions of dollars in charges related to the acquisition of graphics firm ATI in 2007.

In an effort to turn things around, AMD divested assets, cut staff and re-established itself as a chip design firm by spinning off its debt-heavy manufacturing facilities to a separate entity now known as GlobalFoundries. AMD remains a minority shareholder in GlobalFoundries.