Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[Windsock]

AMD reneges on NASCAR technology deal -- Barco the Pekinese too weak to compete in the big leagues.

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/business/10/02/amd.leaves.nascar/index.html

Advanced Micro Devices, which entered NASCAR as the official technology partner late in 2005, has obtained a release from its deal and decided to exit the sport.

Travis Bullard, a spokesman for AMD, said the company's $5.4 billion acquisition of ATI Technologies last year led to a re-evaluation of AMD's marketing strategy and partnerships.

"When we acquired ATI, we about doubled in size and it brought on a whole new series of products and opened up new markets to us," Bullard said. "That required us to take a look at our business model, and we've made changes to our strategies worldwide."

AMD, a rival to Intel in the computer parts industry, entered NASCAR with grand plans to assist the sport's sanctioning body with timing and scoring, research and development, wind-tunnel testing and crash simulation.

AMD partnered with NASCAR and Tissot, the official timekeeper, to build the Mobile Technology Center, a data center hauler on wheels that houses NASCAR's timing and scoring computer system. The Mobile Technology Center was introduced in May 2006 and represented AMD's most significant impact on the sport. The company did not move forward with wind-tunnel testing or crash simulation.