To empower its channel fraternity, AMD has also come up with a unique concept called System Builder Yatra. Through this medium, the company goes on a business expedition to various locations across the country and tries to gather more partners under one roof. "Partner training and knowledge sharing about the company's policy happens here," he said.

In Q2 this year, AMD had nearly 36 system builder yatra programs. In Q3, the company successfully tapped 40 locations through this program. This quarter, AMD intends to capture 70 locations. " Nearly 40 --50 system integrators participate in this program. This helps us grow at a fast pace," he said. This medium of channel focus has helped AMD grow at a fast pace.

From a channel point of view, AMD is not affected by the sliding economy. "We have seen a slowdown in business. However, we have a proper motivation program in place called the AMD Annual Challenge Program. This is a four-quarter program targeted at yearly achievement in which the partners are motivated to deliver better performance."

AMD has also made some alteration to its channel ecosystem. The company's products are currently sold by three master distributors: Ingram Micro, Avnet, and Rashi Peripherals. However, as a part of its new channel initiative, AMD has implemented a new business structure. " We have now created a new layer between the master distributors and the SIs . The new layer is termed as RD/PP( Regional Distributor/ Premier Partner). The SIs can also purchase from these RD/PPs, and still avail the same benefits which they are eligible for when they purchase from a distributor. We have seen this module working for us," said Sandeep.

Another unique RMA initiative that will make the channels happy is the introduction of a new approach called advance replacement, which are exclusively offered to the RD/PPs. In case a CPU gets a faulty, the reseller just has to submit a claim and AMD will replace the CPU in two weeks.