AMD Announces Teradyne and Dolphin Technology Support of Next-Generation HyperTransport™ Bus

--HyperTransport™ Technology increases data throughput up to 24 times compared to existing technologies --

SUNNYVALE, CA -- 5/16/2001 -- AMD today announced it has identified a test system from Teradyne, a leader in testing technology, to be used for products that will incorporate the next generation HyperTransportTM I/O Link data bus. The Teradyne J973EP VLSI Test System with the inSync Differential Test option provides manufacturers of microprocessors, core logic, integrated processors and graphic devices with the ability to increase the frequency and accuracy of HyperTransport implementations. AMD also disclosed that it has been working with Dolphin Technology to develop HyperTransport™ physical interfaces or "PHYs", the high-speed circuitry inside of a computer chip that enables it to transmit and receive digital data along wire pairs using analog signaling.

HyperTransport™ technology, formerly code-named LDT, is an innovative new technology designed to enable the chips and components inside of PCs, networking and communications devices like those that power the Internet, to communicate with each other up to 24 times faster compared with existing technologies.

"Today's announcement reinforces AMD's commitment to drive state-of-the-art technology into the market," said Gabriele Sartori, director of technology evangelism for AMD. "HyperTransport™ technology support from companies like Teradyne and Dolphin Technology benefit AMD's plans to introduce innovative new products. Such support may be designed to also address the product design and the test needs of other companies who choose to license the HyperTransport™ bus for chip-to-chip communications. We have selected Teradyne's J973EP with the inSync Differential Test option as one of the testing systems for the HyperTransport™ bus."

"Teradyne recognized the potential of the HyperTransport™ bus from the beginning and has worked closely with AMD to ensure that innovative and cost effective test solutions were in place to support the engineering and production ramp of this technology," said Rod Stewart, product marketing manager of Teradyne, Inc. "The HyperTransport™ bus is designed to enable semiconductor devices to communicate with each other at an unprecedented 1.6 Gbps. This exciting new technology presented new test challenges in the area of speed, accuracy and differential signaling. We are pleased that AMD has selected Teradyne's J973EP inSync Differential Test option, the ATE industry's first 1.6 Gbps differential test solution."

"AMD recognized the importance of having computer chips from different companies communicate with each other," said Mo Tamjidi, president of Dolphin Technology. "At the high speeds within HyperTransport™ technology, minor electrical variations may create interoperability issues. Dolphin Technologies has worked closely with AMD to develop a physical interface (PHY) that is designed to allow companies to ensure product compatibility."

Although initially developed for high-performance PC and server platforms, the technology is also gaining momentum in networking and communications devices, embedded applications, and other non-PC devices. Multiple products integrating support for HyperTransport™ technology are in development to support desktop and notebook PCs, workstations and servers, and Internet communication devices.

More than 150 companies are working with AMD to drive the development of HyperTransport™ technology. An increasing number of these companies, including Acer Laboratories, Alpha Processor Inc., Aralion, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Cognigine Corporation, Dolphin Technology, ESS Technology, Galileo Technology, Hewlett Packard, LSI Logic, Mellanox Technologies, Pericom Semiconductor Corporation, PLX Technology, PMC Sierra, SandCraft, Inc., Broadcom, Sun Microsystems, Tyan Computer Corporation, have licensed the technology to design into their products. A HyperTransport™ consortium is also planned for later this year.

About HyperTransport™
Technology HyperTransport™ technology is a new high-speed, high-performance, point-to-point link for integrated circuits. HyperTransport™ provides a universal connection that is designed to reduce the number of buses within the system, provide a high-performance link for embedded applications, and enable highly scalable multiprocessing systems. It was developed to enable the chips inside of PCs, networking and communications devices to communicate with each other up to 24 times faster than with existing technologies.

Compared with existing system interconnects that provide bandwidth up to 266MB/sec, HyperTransport™ technology's bandwidth of 6.4GB/sec represents better than a 20-fold increase in data throughput. HyperTransport technology provides an extremely fast connection that complements externally visible bus standards like the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), as well as emerging technologies like InfiniBand. HyperTransport™ technology is the connection that is designed to provide the bandwidth that the new InfiniBand standard requires to communicate with memory and system components inside of next-generation servers and devices that may power the backbone infrastructure of the telecom industry. HyperTransport™ technology is targeted primarily at the information technology and telecom industries, but any application in which high speed, low latency and scalability is necessary can potentially take advantage of HyperTransport™ technology.

HyperTransport™ technology also has a unique daisy-chainable feature, giving the opportunity to connect multiple HyperTransport™ input/output bridges to a single channel. HyperTransport™ technology is designed to support up to 32 devices per channel and can mix and match components with different bus widths and speeds.

Cautionary Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally preceded by words such as "plans," "expects," "believes," "anticipates" or "intends." Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements in this release involve risks and uncertainty that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Forward-looking statements in this release include the risks that the HyperTransport™ technology will not gain widespread industry or market acceptance; and that a HyperTransport™ consortium may not be formed by AMD. We urge investors to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in the Company's filings with the United States Securities Exchange Commission.