Mubadala adds second board member to AMD

Abu Dhabi government investment vehicle Mubadala Development Company has added a second board member to Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the troubled US chip maker in which it owns an almost 20 percent stake.

In a statement, Mubadala said it nominated Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi to the California-based semiconductor firm’s board of directors.

“The appointment of Ahmed to the AMD board is consistent with Mubadala’s long-standing commitment to the company and a reflection of the importance of the semiconductor industry to the Mubadala portfolio,” AMD said.

Yahia is an executive director at Mubadala and is charge of the state-owned fund’s metals, mining, utilities, advanced materials and products divisions.

Mubadala has held an interest in AMD since 2008, when it acquired the company’s manufacturing arm to create semiconductor contractor Globalfoundries.

In its most recent third financial quarter, AMD’s revenues fell 25 percent to US$1.27bn compared to the year ago quarter. The company posted a US$157m loss and said it would be laying off 15 percent of its workforce in a bid to achieve US$190m in operational savings.

AMD is the second largest maker of PC semiconductors behind US-based Intel.