AMD and Qualcomm Technologies to Support Always Connected PCs on Ryzen™ Mobile Platforms

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today announced that they are working with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) to bring smooth and fast PC connectivity solutions to AMD’s high-performance Ryzen™ mobile processors, featuring the world’s fastest processor for ultrathin notebooks[i]. With Qualcomm^®  Snapdragon™ LTE modem solutions, AMD and Qualcomm Technologies will help make it easy for the leading global PC companies to create premium computing platforms with Always Connected, Gigabit LTE speeds alongside the AMD Ryzen mobile processors’ blazingly fast performance, fluid graphics rendering, and optimal efficiency.

“Both AMD and Qualcomm have shown a consistent commitment to delivering products that redefine next-generation mobile user experiences,” said Kevin Lensing, corporate vice president and general manager, client computing, AMD. “OEMs around the world will now be able to combine the recently announced AMD Ryzen mobile processors with Qualcomm Technologies’ leading wireless solutions via their Snapdragon LTE modem family to achieve new levels of performance, connectivity and capability for ultrathin notebook PCs.”

“Qualcomm Technologies believes the Always Connected PC is the future of personal computing, and we are working with AMD to bring each company’s expertise to bear for these exciting products,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager, mobile, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Combining AMD processors with our cutting-edge LTE connectivity technology results in Always Connected Client Notebooks for consumers in a mobile-first future.”

AMD Ryzen™ Mobile Processor with Radeon™ Vega graphics:

-       Leadership performance: Featuring the World’s fastest processor for ultrathin notebooks¹, AMD Ryzen mobile processor provides unprecedented performance up to 2.7X[ii] the CPU performance and up to 2.2X[iii] the GPU performance generationally

-       Complete entertainment experience:  Outstanding gaming in popular eSports titles & ready to power the most advanced & beautiful displays including HDR[iv], Radeon™ FreeSync™ 2[v], and 4K[vi] monitors

-       Focused on amazing battery life: Targeting up to a 2X battery life improvement[vii] generationally

Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ LTE Modem Solutions Engineered to Offer:

-       Support some of the latest wireless network technologies[viii]

-       Blazing-fast LTE download speeds[ix]

-       Superior speeds in weak signal conditions[x]

-       Long battery life

Supporting Resources

·         Learn more about AMD Ryzen™ Mobile processors at AMD.com/RyzenMobile

·         Learn more about the “Zen” core architecture at AMD.com/Zen

·         Learn more about the AMD Radeon™ RX Vega Series

·         Learn more about the AMD 25X20 Energy Efficiency Initiatives

·         Learn more about AMD Products, Solutions, and Innovations

·         Become a fan of AMD on Facebook

·         Follow AMD on Twitter @AMD

About AMD

For more than 45 years, AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms, and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses, and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work, and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Cautionary Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) including the collaboration between AMD and Qualcomm Technologies and the expected benefits from the collaboration, which are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as "would," "intends," "believes," "expects," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "intends," "plans," "pro forma," "estimates," "anticipates," or the negative of these words and phrases, other variations of these words and phrases or comparable terminology. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this document are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this document and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Such statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond AMD's control, that could cause actual results and other future events to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. Material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, without limitation, the following: Intel Corporation’s dominance of the microprocessor market and its aggressive business practices may limit AMD’s ability to compete effectively; AMD has a wafer supply agreement with GF with obligations to purchase all of its microprocessor and APU product requirements, and a certain portion of its GPU product requirements, from GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. (GF) with limited exceptions. If GF is not able to satisfy AMD’s manufacturing requirements, its business could be adversely impacted; AMD relies on third parties to manufacture its products, and if they are unable to do so on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies, AMD’s business could be materially adversely affected; failure to achieve expected manufacturing yields for AMD’s products could negatively impact its financial results; the success of AMD’s business is dependent upon its ability to introduce products on a timely basis with features and performance levels that provide value to its customers while supporting and coinciding with significant industry transitions; if AMD cannot generate sufficient revenue and operating cash flow or obtain external financing, it may face a cash shortfall and be unable to make all of its planned investments in research and development or other strategic investments; the loss of a significant customer may have a material adverse effect on AMD; AMD’s receipt of revenue from its semi-custom SoC products is dependent upon its technology being designed into third-party products and the success of those products; global economic uncertainty may adversely impact AMD’s business and operating results; the markets in which AMD’s products are sold are highly competitive; AMD may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service its debt obligations or meet its working capital requirements; AMD has a large amount of indebtedness which could adversely affect its financial position and prevent it from implementing its strategy or fulfilling its contractual obligations; the agreements governing AMD’s notes and the Secured Revolving Line of Credit impose restrictions on AMD that may adversely affect its ability to operate its business; AMD's issuance to West Coast Hitech L.P. (WCH) of warrants to purchase 75 million shares of its common stock, if and when exercised, will dilute the ownership interests of its existing stockholders, and the conversion of the 2.125% Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 may dilute the ownership interest of its existing stockholders, or may otherwise depress the price of its common stock; uncertainties involving the ordering and shipment of AMD’s products could materially adversely affect it; the demand for AMD’s products depends in part on the market conditions in the industries into which they are sold. Fluctuations in demand for AMD’s products or a market decline in any of these industries could have a material adverse effect on its results of operations; AMD’s ability to design and introduce new products in a timely manner is dependent upon third-party intellectual property; AMD depends on third-party companies for the design, manufacture and supply of motherboards, software and other computer platform components to support its business; if AMD loses Microsoft Corporation’s support for its products or other software vendors do not design and develop software to run on AMD’s products, its ability to sell its products could be materially adversely affected; and AMD’s reliance on third-party distributors and AIB partners subjects it to certain risks.  Investors are urged to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in AMD's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to AMD's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2017.

*This is Press Release

AMD eBlast: Radeon Graphics take the lead in new VRMark DX12 benchmark

Today, Futuremark introduced a new test environment for its VRMark benchmark: Cyan Room. VRMark Cyan Room is the first VR benchmarking tool exclusively for DirectX 12, and the results show AMD’s performance leadership in virtual reality and low-level APIs.

VR technology has incredible potential for gaming and other applications, but requires fast GPUs and CPUs that can keep up with VR’s intensive demands. One of the best ways to meet the challenges of VR is by using DirectX 12, a new class of programming interface that gives developers more direct access to CPU and GPU hardware.

As you’ll see in the below performance results, the Radeon RX Vega 64, RX Vega 56 and RX 580 easily outpace their direct competition both in FPS and benchmark scores. Further, all three GPUs meet the key requirement for today’s VR headsets by delivering at least 90 frames per second.

Here’s Radeon’s performance in VRMark Cyan Room at a glance:

*This is Press Release

New Culture of Work in PH Needed to Succeed in Digital Transformation

The changing face of the workforce in the Philippines has resulted in a need for organizations to foster a new culture of work to achieve digital transformation success, a Microsoft Study has concluded. In fact, half of the respondents polled felt that more can be done by their organizations to invest in culture development.

The Study found the following factors influencing the culture of work in the Philippines today:  

1.       Increasingly mobile workforce and exposure to new security risks: The rise of mobility and proliferation of mobile and cloud technologies have resulted in individuals working across multiple locations and devices. In fact, the Study found that only 21% of respondents are spending all of their work hours in the office, and 81% of respondents are working off personal smartphones. The latter raises new security challenges for organizations.

2.       The rise of diverse teams: The Study found that 29% of workers in the Philippines are already working in more than 10 teams at any one point in time. With the BPO industry being significant in the country, more workers are working with different and even virtual teams from different locations. This makes the availability of real-time insights and collaboration tools crucial to get work done.

3.       Gaps in employees’ digital skills even as leaders are in the motion of embracing digital transformation: As the bar is raised with new technologies adopted across industries, deployment is uneven. In fact, 47% of respondents feel that more can be done to bridge the digital skills gap among workers.

Said Cian O’Neill, Microsoft Philippines COO and CMO: “The rise of digital technologies, along with a new generation of millennials entering the workforce, has brought about a need to address changing workers’ expectations, knowledge and skills, as well as the tools they use. And with more than half of the world’s millennials residing in Asia, the workplace will need to transform to adapt to the technology habits of these digital natives. In addition, due to deployment of advanced and emerging technologies, organizations need to relook at reskilling its workforce to develop creative and strategic skills for the future.”

Addressing a new culture of work for digital transformation success

Even as 86% of business leaders in the Philippines acknowledge the need to transform into a digital business in order to succeed, people are ultimately the main drivers of digital transformation.

“People are at the heart of digital transformation. Their expectations, knowledge and skills, as well as the tools they use for work, are determining factors in the level of transformation that any organization can achieve. The challenge that they face now is how to implement new ways to foster a modern culture of work to better empower Asia’s workers, especially those at the frontline. By estimates, there are two billion firstline workers globally, and make up majority of our workforce today,” said Bertand Launay, Microsoft Philippines Managing Director.

Today, firstline workers serve as the first point of contact between companies and the rest of the world - first to engage customers, represent brand, and see products and services in action.

To unlock the potential of employees, organizations need to address and elevate their workforce, especially firstline workers, through addressing the core values of the new culture of work:

1.       Unlocking employees’ creativity

Collaboration fuels innovation through sharing of ideas and enables flexibility in how people work through a connected experience, while working seamlessly across devices. However, the Study found that majority of respondents feel restricted in the way they work today, with 64% highlighting that they needed to be physically present in office as equipment or tools used for their line of work is only available in the workplace.

2.       Fuelling teamwork

By equipping all workers with a universal toolkit for collaboration, organizations offer its people choice and ownership as to how they work together and collaborate in real-time. In fact, the Study found that one in two workers highlighted that access to technology for collaboration such that they can respond in a timely manner to internal and external requests was important in their line of work.

3.       Strengthening Security

Today, 74% of respondents are working on employer-issued PCs, but 81% are also working on personal smartphones, which underscores potential security risks. In fact, 76% of respondents admitted to checking personal emails on company-issued devices, and are doing so for convenience sake. Therefore, leaders need to strengthen their security not to put organization’s confidential data at risk to address the need for workers to work without barriers and without impeding productivity.

4.       Bringing Simplicity

With the rise of apps, devices, services and security risks in the workplace, there is a need to streamline the IT management, break down service siloes so that disparate data can be combined and reasoned in new ways and reduce complexity. In fact, a Microsoft Asia Pacific IT leaders study[2] found that 61% of ITDMs from the market agreed that there is a need to reduce complexity of managing their existing IT security portfolio.

Technology is key for firstline workers to become an integral part of digital transformation success

“We believe that every worker – from the factory floor to the front desk, to the executive boardroom – can contribute to an organization’s collective endeavours. It is our view that involving firstline workers in digital transformation will drive unprecedented opportunity – for workers, the organizations that they work for, and the industries and society at large,” added O’Neill.  “At Microsoft, we see the opportunities that can be unlocked with technology by equipping firstline workers with the right tools, such as Microsoft 365. Ultimately, digital transformation projects can only succeed if the right tools are in place for workers to leverage and maximize upon.”

Microsoft has announced the expansion of Microsoft 365, including Microsoft 365 F1, which provides purpose-built capabilities that help foster firstline culture and community, train and upskill employees, digitize business process, deliver real-time expertise, and minimize risk and cost. New intelligent search capabilities, a vision for intelligent communications centring on Microsoft Teams, and security and IT management enhancements to help customers stay secure and compliant were also introduced at Ignite:

·         Microsoft 365 F1 brings together Office 365, Windows 10, and Enterprise Mobility + Security to empower the more than two billion firstline workers worldwide, who serve as the first point of contact between a company and its customers, or who are directly involved in making products.

·         Introducing a new vision for intelligent communications, including plans to bring Skype for Business Online capabilities into Microsoft Teams, along with cognitive and data services, making Teams the true hub for teamwork in Office 365, including persistent chat, voice and video.  

·         Intelligent search experiences use AI and machine learning to deliver more relevant search results everywhere you search across Microsoft 365

·         Microsoft 365 is delivering improved Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) features like enhanced anti-phishing capabilities, expanded protection to SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Teams and integration between cloud and on premises identity threat detection capabilities.

Modernizing firstline workforce with Microsoft Cloud

For organizations still on Office 2007, end of support will happen on 11 October. Customers who are still using Office 2007 products and services are encouraged to move to Office 365 or Microsoft 365 to stay supported, and ensure uninterrupted support from Microsoft.

O’Neill said: “With cloud-based productivity tools being a key pick among Asia’s mobile workers to drive greater collaboration among teams, we urge organizations to take the opportunity to evaluate Microsoft 365 as an option to modernize their workforce.”

To learn more about Microsoft 365, visit https://www.microsoft.com/en/microsoft-365

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About Microsoft

Microsoft is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more

Microsoft Philippines, the local subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation, has been constantly bringing innovation and making its technology available to Filipino businesses and individuals since 1995. As a committed and trusted partner in nation-building, Microsoft Philippines has made it its mission to fuel growth and healthy communities, as well as transform locally-based businesses and empower them to compete in the global economy.

*This is Press Release

Filipino eSports Fans Rejoice: ROG Masters 2017 Asia Pacific Regional Finals to Happen in Manila this October 2017, One Step Closer to the World Finals

Manila Philippines, August 31, 2017 — ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) once again proved why it is the undisputed number one gaming brand locally and globally by gathering some of the best e-sports players for both CS:GO and DOTA 2 in the country. The ROG Masters 2017 Philippine Qualifiers journey started in June and just recently ended this month in an intensified final battle held last August 19 and 20 in SM Cyberzone, SM City North Edsa.

Live your eSports Dream with ROG Masters 2017 PH Finals

Fighting for glory, Mineski CS:GO team finished off again in the finals this year with a back-to-back win from last year’s ROG Masters PH finals. The crowd favorite took the first game at glance against Rekt E-sports with 16-6 score and swiftly bagged PHP 75,000 cash prize at the end of second game. During the Semi-Finals, Rekt E-sports turned down Wargods while Mineski eliminated Fractals. Being on top of the game, Mineski was able to secure a spot in the ROG Masters 2017 regional finals and battle against the Asia’s finest CS:GO players.

Mineski CS:GO slaying the ROG Masters 2017 Philippine Finals with a back-to-back win and securing their second title, proving they are still the number one CS:GO professional team in the country

In the MOBA side of the Masters, the DOTA 2 tournament quickly passed as a 2-0 score consistently turned out every game. Entity Gaming defeated Happy Feet during the first round of the competition and Execration, fresh from their stint in The International 2017 and also last year’s ROG Masters World Finals runner up, showed that they’re ready to fight back and this time crowned as the next ROG Masters DOTA 2 grand champions. In the end, Philippine pride, Execration proved each step of the way that they were indeed ready to redeem themselves and grab top spot after winning against Imperium in a 2-0 battle slaying the first game of the ROG Masters 2017 Philippine finals with ease.

                         

On a separate note, the uprising Entity Gaming which is composed of Filipinos and Indian players showed their presence and pulled out Execration’s winning momentum. On the first half of the do or die round, Entity Gaming dominated the battle scene but Execration showed dynamic team synergy and more “Pro” gaming experience which resulted to a game comeback and win this year’s ROG Masters 2017 Philippine finals title for DOTA 2 and bring home a whopping PHP 125,000 and more importantly a chance to win PHP 25,000,000 (USD 500,000) in the ROG Masters 2017 World Finals.

Execration Team Captain Kimuel "Kim0" Rodis explaining their game strategy and finding the perfect balance of hero against Entity Gaming

ROG Masters 2017 PH Finals: For hardcore gamers and enthusiast

It was a fun-packed, exciting 2-day event for all the Citizens of the Republic. Fellow gamers and e-sports enthusiasts not only witnessed the battle of the bests unfold, but also had the chance to experience the latest ROG machines in the experiential area.

Lots of activities and giveaways were prepared for the end-users including ROG’s eleven (11) Godlike items which include gaming monitors, mice, keyboards, DOTA 2 arcana, motherboard, graphics card and the much-awaited powerful ROG gaming laptop as the grand prize during the two-day event.

Gaming personalities like the ASUS ROG Brand Ambassador, Ann B. Mateo joined the event and even participated in some of the activities at the ROG experience area.

One of the Philippines’ most successful bands Pinoy Band Rivermaya rocked the ROG Masters’ stage with their iconic songs like Elesi, Awit ng Kabataan, and Olats.

ASUS Philippines Systems Group Country Manager, George Su, explains ROG Philippines overall performance and brand direction in 2017

“The Philippine eSports scene is starting to get really exciting day-by-day. Last year, we partnered with the Professional Gamers' League (PGL) in mounting the world’s biggest DOTA 2 tournament series in country which is the Manila Major. Last June we also took part in the grandest eSports event this year in the country which is the Manila Masters and we will not stop here,” shares George Su, Country Manager of ASUS Philippines System Business Group.

“Staying true to our commitment to support the local eSports scene, ASUS Republic Of Gamers (ROG) is proud to host the ROG Masters 2017 Asia Pacific finals in the country bringing together more than twenty professional teams all over Asia. The Republic greatly believes that the Philippines can be considered as the eSports capital of Asia and Filipino pro gamers and up and coming talents has highest potential to become the next global eSports superstars and ROG Masters 2017 can be their stepping stone to reach this dream,” Su concluded.

*This is Press Release

AMD Launches the Highest-Performance Desktop Processor, Ever, with Ryzen™ Threadripper™ High End Desktop Processors

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) released two models of its highly anticipated, Ryzen™ Threadripper™ high-end desktop processors, AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper ™1950X and AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ 1920X. During an already record-setting year for the company through the successful launch of several award-winning Ryzen™ desktop processors for the AM4 platform, today’s release of Ryzen Threadripper marks a major step forward in performance and features for the high-end desktop market, with the new processor exceeding the expectations of even the most demanding developers, researchers, prosumers, creators, and multi-tasking gamers. Built around the new AMD x86 “Zen” core architecture, Ryzen Threadripper delivers overwhelming power, unrestrained potential, and indisputable supremacy over comparable products in the market. [i]

 

 “The level of global support and excitement built-up around AMD Ryzen processors has been incredible to watch these last few months, and with today’s Ryzen Threadripper launch, we deliver a new level of computing power to the world’s fastest ultra-premium desktop systems via an entirely new platform and set of multi-core processors,” said Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Computing and Graphics Group, AMD. “Ryzen Threadripper is the jolt of innovation that the high-end desktop customer was waiting for, providing the long-awaited ability to choose a processor that best fulfills their computing needs at a competitive price.”

Performance and Availability

            Both new models of Ryzen Threadripper support the new SocketTR4 platform, sporting sixty-four PCIe® lanes, quad channel DDR4 memory, and AMD simultaneous multithreading (SMT). With support for 16 cores and 32 processing threads, the Ryzen Threadripper 1950X delivers unprecedented multi-processing power, the likes of which have never been available for consumer desktop systems before. The Ryzen Threadripper 1920X provides 12 cores and 24 processing threads and will be available on-shelf along with the Threadripper 1950X on August 10^th, 2017. A third variant, the 8-core 16-thread Ryzen Threadripper 1900X, is expected to be available August 31.

Product Line	Model	Cores	Threads	Base Clock (GHz)	Boost Clock (GHz)	XFR (GHz)	PCIe® Lanes	TDP (Watts)	SRP (PhP) with 12% VAT	Availability
AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™	1950X	16	32	3.4	4.0	4.2	64	180	PhP 59,700 VAT inclusive	August 10
AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™	1920X	12	24	3.5	4.0	4.2	64	180	PhP 47,500 VAT inclusive	August 10
AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™	1900X	8	16	3.8	4.0	4.2	64	180	$ 549 (local SRP to be announced)	August 31

Whether rendering complex 3D scenes, streaming high-quality video game content, or encoding, compiling, and encryptingf1900 files in parallel of each other, the world-class performance per clock and efficiency of AMD’s “Zen” architecture means users can do so without sacrificing efficiency or performance. Ryzen Threadripper 1950X and 1920X processors include 40MB and 38MB of processor cache, respectively, and all Ryzen Threadripper processors from the $549 Threadripper 1900X to the $999 Threadripper 1950X feature the same Quad-Channel DDR4 memory bandwidth, 64 lanes of PCIe® 3.0 connectivity, and processor-direct SATA/NVMe/USB connectivity. In addition, every Ryzen Threadripper processor is multiplier-unlocked to provide unlimited user flexibility.[ii] A full ecosystem of SocketTR4 X399 platforms, with native USB 3.1 Gen2 10GB/s connectivity, provide support for all Ryzen Threadripper processors at launch, with motherboards coming from top manufacturers like ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI.

Alienware Area-51 Threadripper™ Edition

In a testament to the multi-tasking and gaming capabilities of Ryzen Threadripper, Alienware has also launched its exclusive pre-built 16-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper™ Edition system to acclaim from high-end desktop enthusiasts worldwide. The new Alienware Area-51 Threadripper Edition, named “Best of E3” by Tom’s Guide and PC Gamer   sports a similar Triad chassis design to that of existing Area-51 systems, but incorporates AMD’s powerful Ryzen Threadripper 1950X processor.

“Built into the Alienware brand DNA, we stand by our commitment to deliver optimum gaming performance with iconic design and outstanding quality, Alienware is pleased to be first and only OEM to offer AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper to gamers and the new field of home content creators and megatasking streamers,” said Frank Azor, VP and GM, Alienware, Dell Gaming and XPS. “The Alienware Area-51 Threadripper Edition with the first-ever 16-core desktop processor and CPU liquid cooling allows you to use the most demanding applications to play, record and create simultaneously – taking your gaming and content creation experience to a whole new level.”

About AMD

For more than 45 years, AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms, and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses, and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work, and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.