“Microprocessors for the masses”
— AMD's late ‘90s rallying cry

• 1996: AMD aquires NexGen
• 1997: AMD introduces AMD-K6® processor
• 1998: AMD and Motorola announce alliance to develop copper-interconnect technology
• 1999: AMD introduces the AMD Athlon™ processor, the world's first seventh-generation processor for Mocrosoft® Windows® computing

To deliver the true innovations our customers deserve, AMD began forging critical relationships with infrastructure, software, technology, and OEM partners — the cornerstone of what we call our “connected business model” today.

First, AMD partnered with NexGen to create the AMD-K6® microprocessor family, designed to restore competition to the supply chain and offer an outstanding solution for desktop computing. After its introduction in 1997, the return of competition helped drive costs down low enough to enable a whole new market segment — PCs that are affordable for everyday people. Our aim was to offer the highest performance and lowest cost solution for the masses.

In 1998, AMD released the AMD-K6-2 processor, featuring 3DNow!™ technology. Invented by AMD, 3DNow! technology was the first x86 innovation to significantly enhance 3D graphics, multimedia, and other floating-point-intensive applications for Windows®-compatible PCs. (AMD continues to make improvements to the instruction set today). The AMD-K6-2 processor offered a tremendous competitive difference to customers developing leading-edge hardware and software, and helped lay the groundwork for the future of processor design.

Our next step saw the culmination of a company dream — to design and produce an industry-leading, proprietary Microsoft® Windows®-compatible processor. Introduced in 1999, the AMD Athlon™ processor empowered AMD customers with a compelling new alternative, the first-ever solution to use chipsets and motherboards optimized specifically for our processor. The multiple award-winning AMD Athlon processor family proved itself to be an outstanding platform across a wide variety of high-performance applications.

During the same period, AMD continued to forge ahead with performance-enhancing process technology and Flash memory innovations, entering into a strategic alliance with Motorola that included collaborative development of copper-interconnect technology platforms as well as co-development of process technology for embedded Flash memory. AMD also set an industry standard for dual-operation Flash memory devices, and expanded our product portfolio to fulfill the demands of customers in telecom, cable television, networking, and automotive telemetry markets.