Computer hardware manufacturer AMD will eliminate 1,100 jobs and temporarily reduce pay for all remaining employees, reports the Associated Press.

It's the third round of layoffs for AMD in under a year, as it cut 600 jobs in December and an additional 1,600 positions earlier in 2008. The company is also in the process of spinning off its manufacturing operations, which will relocate 3,000 workers.

The latest cuts affect 9% of AMD's 12,000 employees that aren't being shuffled in the manufacturing shift. Of the 1,110 cut positions, 900 employees will lose their jobs, with the other 300 positions stemming from attrition and the sale of another business unit.

Those that remain at AMD will see their pay temporarily reduced, the extent of the reduction depending on their position. The CEO and executive chairman will see salaries cut by 20%, vice presidents and other top management will lose 15%, regular salaried staffers will lose 10%, and those paid hourly will make 5% less.

Along with the pay cuts, AMD has also indefinitely suspended 401(k) matching. The company did not specify when it will return to normal pay rates or 401(k) matching.

In a separate filing, AMD noted its belief that subsidiary ATI Technologies is now worth less than half of the $5.8 billion AMD originally paid for the graphics card manufacturer.

During a presentation at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, computer hardware manufacturer AMD and middleware developer OTOY unveiled plans for a new supercomputer they believe will revolutionize entertainment.

By calculating all relevant data sever-side and then streaming the results to online devices, AMD claims the platform can bring video games and other "graphically-intensive applications" to "virtually any type of mobile device with a web browser without making the device rapidly deplete battery life or struggle to process the content."

"Imagine playing the most visually intensive first person shooter game at the highest image quality settings on your cell phone without ever having to download and install the software, or use up valuable storage space or battery life with compute-intensive tasks," teased AMD digital media and entertainment director Charlie Boswell... Read more

The Creative Assembly's futuristic military RTS game Stormrise, EA Phenomic's RTS-CCG hybrid BattleForge and NHN's RPG Cloud 9 will all support DirectX 10.1 upon their release on the PC platform, hardware maker AMD announced today.

According to AMD, only its ATI Radeon HD 3000 and ATI Radeon HD 4800 cards currently support the DirectX 10.1 technology.

Upon its announcement, Stormrise--the latest title from Total War series maker Creative Assembly--was said to be "built from the ground up specifically for high def consoles" with controls that would "revolutionise the way RTS games are played."

Stormrise is slated to hit next year, with Sega Europe CTO Chris Southall labeling it as "one of next year's most technologically advanced titles." BattleForge, meanwhile, is expected to arrive this fall, with NHN yet to detail a firm release date for Cloud 9.

During a recent press event, AMD introduced a new rendering technology capable of producing photo-realistic humans, as a handful of game developers lined up behind the hardware manufacturer. Dubbed Cinema 2.0, the technology is capable of producing photo-realistic characters (pictured left) by capturing human facial data using a rig that consists of a "globe-shaped room" ringed with high-definition cameras, according to Joystiq.

The digital character was then shown running in real-time, with realistic lighting and special effects.

Gaming developers Splash Damage, Crytek, Rebellion, Remedy and Blizzard were all named as partners of AMD during the presentation.

Blizzard also announced that it will be packaging its games with ATI video cards in a deal that will give the developer early access to AMD/ATI graphics technology.

Hardware maker AMD and physics technology provider Havok, a subsidiary of AMD competitor Intel, have begun working together to optimize the performance of Havok technology on AMD machines.

The comes months after Intel and AMD competitor Nvidia bought physics powerhouse AGEIA, and marks the latest game-oriented move from AMD, which recently introduced AMD Game!, a console-esque PC hardware brand.

"The success of Havok as a cross platform software company is predicated on our willingness to listen to the needs of our customers," explained Havok director David O'Meara, who noted that the companies hope to investigate CPU "game play simulation" and the "capabilities of massively parallel products."

Havok's multi-platform technology is used in over 300 games, going by today's press release. Prominent examples include 2K Boston and 2K Australia's BioShock, Midway Chicago's Stranglehold, and Ensemble Studio's Age of Empires III.

"By working with the clear market leader in physics software, AMD can optimize our platforms to consistently deliver the best possible visual experience to the gamer," added AMD graphics product VP Rick Bergman.

Earlier today, hardware manufacturer AMD pulled back the curtain on AMD Game!, a new branding program meant to help mainstream consumers identify and purchase gaming-capable PCs.

In advance of the announcement, I had the chance to talk with AMD desktop gaming strategist Brent Barry about the new initiative, the software behind it, how AMD approaches system-eating games like Crysis, and just what it means for the PC Gaming Alliance since AMD Game! is an independent effort.

We also discussed the confusion that could stem from not branding compatible games with the AMD Game! logo, not to mention the periodic updates to the AMD Game! guidelines that won't be reflected with any sort of name change or... Read more

Hardware manufacturer AMD today unveiled a new plan to simplify the process of determining PC gaming system requirements for mainstream consumers.

Titled AMD Game!, the program will allow gamers to purchase hardware which meets a certain set of minimum requirements. New systems and parts will be labeled with AMD Game! or AMD! Game Ultra badges, meant to inform customers that the machine can capably play "today's games."

"We're trying to help people identify PCs that are really ready to play the latest games," AMD desktop gaming strategist Brent Barry explained to Shacknews. "Basically, to bring a little bit of that console-like simplicity to the mainstream gamers."

Those who buy the AMD Game! certified systems will then be assured a standard of performance when playing recently released games. The company plans to update the specifications every six months to keep in line with current industry trends, though the name of the labels will remain the same.

"We looked at a couple of different ways that we could try to identify what you needed," said Barry. "One idea was essentially to do an AMD Game! 1... Read more

AMD is releasing its new Radeon flagship product today, the HD 2900 XT videocard. Only one thing is important, can it beat NVidia's GeForce 8800? Apparently not. You can find reviews at Tech Report, HardOCP, Overclockers Club, Hexus, Altgamer.org, Driver Heaven, Bjorn3D and HotHardware.

Tech Report reports on the latest AMD CPU price cuts, which has almost all Athlon 64 X2 chips (the exception being the 6000+) under $200 now. There are also hefty cuts for the Athlon 64 FX-74 ($799 from $999) and FX-72 ($599 from $799).

The new Athlon64 X2 6000+ CPU hits the review circuit over at TechReport, AnandTech and AMDZone. The new chip turns in some fairly good numbers but Intel is still ahead of the game these days.

Word around town for a little while has been that the new R600 chip from ATI was getting close and was looking impressive. Seems that we wont be seeing that card until next quarter now. Bummer.

AMD today announced the introduction of Athlon 64 X2 CPUs based on 65nm process technology, allowing for more aggressive performance scaling and reduced power consumption. The new Athlon 64 X2 5000+ will be $301, the 4800+ $271, the 4400+ $214 and the 4000+ $169, though retail availability of these chips is sketchy at the moment. Thanks Tech Report.

Tech Report, HardOCP and AnandTech all have Quad FX reviews posted, checking out AMD's four core solution. For most intents and purposes it looks like you can hold on to your money.

Tech Report has a couple of press releases from AMD, announcing that it has completed its $5.4 billion acquisition of ATI. Wasting no time, the company also announced plans for Fusion processors - CPU/GPU hybrid chips. Fusion processors are expected in late 2008 or early 2009.

Tech Report has a story up with the latest on AMD's 4x4, their dual-socket solution for hardware enthusiasts. AMD hosted an event with Luxology, VoodooPC, and Microsoft on hand to show off the dual-core dual-CPU platform. Among other things, AMD promised to sell dual-CPU kits for under a grand.

It was rumored for a while now, and today it has become official: AMD is acquiring Canadian graphics chipset manufacturer ATI for $5.4 billion. The majority of that money, $4.2 billion, will be paid in cash, the rest with AMD shares. In PR speak, here's what AMD hopes to get out of this deal (apparently two companies merging will give the consumer more freedom, I'm not sure how that works)

AMD's acquisition of ATI will position the new company to deliver innovations that fulfill the increasing demand for more integrated solutions in key market segments while also continuing to develop "best-of-breed" discrete products that empower customers to choose the combination of technologies that best serves their needs. In 2008 and beyond, AMD aims to move beyond current technological configurations to transform processing technologies, with silicon-specific platforms that integrate microprocessors and graphics processors to address the growing need for general-purpose, media-centric, data-centric and graphic-centric performance. Thus, the combined company intends to empower its customers to create their own unique products and solutions within an open-innovation ecosystem free from artificial barriers to customer success.

DailyTech has this story up with a table showing planned price cuts for AMD processors. As expected, these cuts are massive, with a $649 Athlon 64 X2-5000+ AM2 soon going for $282, a $522 Athlon 64 X2-4600+ AM2 going for $224 and many other top-of-the-line Athlon CPUs becoming close to or more than 50% cheaper as well.

According to this CNet story, AMD has entered into a nonbinding agreement with the state of New York that would have AMD build a $3.2 billion plant in Saratoga Springs. Construction could start during the summer of 2007, with the plant opening in 2010. The plant would make chips based on 32-nanometer manufacturing technology (AMD is moving to 65nm later this year, and 45 in 2008).

Tech Report has a story about AMD's plans for some of its older Athlon CPUs. Athlon 64 X2 4800+, 4400+, and 4000+ for Socket AM2 and model 4400+ for Socket 939 chips will be retired soon, as will 4000+, 3700+, 3200+, and 3000+ single core chips. Several Sempron CPUs will be discontinued as well.

We mentioned Intel slashing prices yesterday, and it looks like AMD will follow suit. According to The Inquirer, several top-line Athlon CPUs will become some 50% cheaper soon.