Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[pgerassi]

Dear Alan81:

To make it easier, this was from an answer by Robert Rivet to analyst Mark Edelstone in the Q3-05 earnings Q&A session:

So this will comprehend the incremental depreciation associated with next year for Fab 36, and the decreasing depreciation for Fab 30. So I'll kind of give you the all-in net number for the microprocessor business, including the back end manufacturing operations. Think of a number of about $150 million of incremental depreciation net, for next year, compared to this year, for the microprocessor business. Obviously it'll be heavier loaded in the back half of the year than the front half of the year, as we continue to deploy more tools to run manufacturing. I hope that'll help a little bit, Mark.

From: http://epscontest.com/transcripts/05q3_amd_page2.htm

So extra depreciation for 2006 will be about $150 million more than what it was in 2005. Given that COGS outside of depreciation should go down with ramp of 300mm wafers, COGS will likely be a wash with a R&D being somewhat higher in the H1 versus H2 and depreciaton being opposite.

If AMD ships a higher percentage of dual core, look for ASPs to rise quickly as these will be high value server, mobile and mainstream desktop, but not value CPUs. Average ASPs should rise faster than COGS due to larger dies. Dual core will likely increase ASPs and after tax profits.

Pete