“Competition is good — it accelerates innovation, drives down costs, and expands consumers' choices. It causes people to perform at high levels and achieve goals they would never otherwise achieve. Most important, consumers benefit from competition.”
— AMD Founder Jerry Sanders

• 1991: AMD introduces the Am386® microprocessor family
• 1991: AMD ships its millionth am386 processor
• 1993: AMD and Fujitsu establish joint venture to produce Flash memory products/devices
• 1993: First members of the Am486® microprocessor family are introduce
• 1994: Compaq Computer Corp. and AMD form long-term alliance under which Am486 microprocessors will power Compaq computers

The late ‘80s and early ‘90s marked a significant turning point for AMD. During eight years of legal wrangling, we struggled to uphold cross-licensing agreements that enabled AMD (and other companies) to compete and provide competitive alternatives in the PC semiconductor market. This difficult process led AMD to broaden our perspective into what we called “Spheres of Influence” — a multi-market approach that solidified AMD's commitment to programmable logic devices, high-performance memories, and networking and communication chips, in addition to our PC-compatible microprocessor offerings. By casting a wider net, we began to be able to offer more diverse solutions for our customers.

1991, effectively breaking the monopoly on 386 chips. Offering higher clock speeds and lower power dissipation than the competition, AMD shipped more than one million units of the Am386 processor family by the end of the year. In 1993, we launched the first members of the next-generation Am486® processor family, which went on to power Compaq computers and thousands of others. And when AMD technically won the legal battle, customers were the ones who really emerged victorious. The return of choice and competition in the marketplace empowered customers to take advantage of a wider range of innovations and greater cost savings.

In the 1990s, Flash memory took over from EEPROM ( electrically erasable programmable read-only memory ) as the dominant non-volatile memory solution. (Non-volatile memory retains its contents even if power is turned off.) Customers' need for innovative Flash memory solutions began to soar, particularly as growth in the communications and networking markets exploded. To meet those needs, AMD developed proprietary algorithms for greater endurance, along with innovative circuit designs built on leading-edge process technology that led to dramatically smaller die sizes. These AMD innovations offered our customers impressive cost savings, longer product lifecycles, and greater design flexibility.

Building strength on strength, AMD introduced the industry's first economically viable single-voltage Flash memory devices, leading the way to ever-lower voltages and lower-power products. And in 1993, we established a joint venture with Fujitsu Limited—known as Fujitsu AMD Semiconductor Limited, or Spansion. Spansion enabled volume production of AMD's Flash memory products, helping to ensure availability for our customers.

During this time period, AMD expanded our corporate mission, moving beyond simply offering technological building blocks to supplying total high-performance systems solutions to our customers. To fulfill this mission, our commitment to process-technology innovation shifted into overdrive. In 1990, AMD made huge strides forward when our Submicron Development Center became fully operational.

Since the dawning of the semiconductor industry, advances in process technology have always driven towards ever-smaller integrated circuits. As the Submicron Development Center was brought online, AMD began dealing with components smaller than one micron. (In comparison, the thickness of the average human hair is approximately 100 microns.) Mastering the process of working with these amazingly minute components enabled AMD to offer our customers smaller, more powerful processors that provide greater design flexibility at lower costs.

By our 25th anniversary, AMD was ranked #1 or #2 worldwide in every market served, including the Microsoft® Windows®-compatible PC business. Our customers had come to rely on AMD as a pre-eminent supplier of Flash memory, EPROM, networking, telecommunications, and programmable logic chips, and we enjoyed record sales and operation income.