The company reported net profit of US$257 million on a GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) basis for the quarter ended on March 27, compared to a net loss of $416 million it reported in the first quarter of 2009.
On a non-GAAP basis, the company reported net income of $63 million for the quarter, compared to a loss of $189 million reported in the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share were $0.09, beating the $0.05 estimated by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The company recognized a non-cash gain of $325 million from the deconsolidation of the GlobalFoundries spin-off.
This is the second consecutive quarterly profit for AMD. It reported its first profitable quarter in three years for the fourth quarter of 2009, when it had net income of $1.18 billion, benefiting mainly from a $1.25 billion legal settlement with Intel.
AMD reported revenue of $1.57 billion for the first quarter of 2010, an improvement from the $1.18 billion in revenue from the year-ago quarter. The revenue beat analyst estimates of $1.54 billion.
Strong product offerings resulted in "record" first-quarter revenue, said Dirk Meyer, AMD's CEO, in a statement. The company introduced new DirectX 11 graphics cards and broadened its PC and server microprocessor offerings through partners.
The revenue of the Computing Solutions segment, which includes microprocessors, increased 23 percent year-over-year, the company said. The growth was driven by an increase in microprocessor unit shipments. Revenue for the graphics segment, which includes graphics cards, increased 88 percent year-over-year.