AMD Celebrates Its 55th Anniversary: A Look Back at Milestones

On May 1st, 1969, Walter Jeremiah Sanders co-founded Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) with seven others. Little did they know that their company would become a major player in the semiconductor industry, revolutionizing computing and graphics technology. Fast forward to today, and AMD is celebrating its 55th anniversary.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and explore some key milestones in AMD’s history.

1. Founding and Early Years

• 1969: AMD was founded by Walter Jeremiah Sanders and his team. The company initially focused on manufacturing computer chips.
• 1972: AMD went public, solidifying its position in the industry.

2. The ATI Acquisition

• 2006: A pivotal moment in AMD’s history occurred when the company acquired ATI Technologies in a $5.6 billion deal. This acquisition gave AMD access to video graphics cards for PCs. The ATI brand eventually merged into AMD, and the first AMD Radeon GPU was launched in August 2010.

3. The Rise of Ryzen

• March 2nd, 2017: AMD released its first Ryzen CPU, marking a significant shift in the CPU market. The Ryzen processors offered competitive performance and value, challenging Intel’s dominance.

4. Recent Developments

• 2023: AMD launched the Ryzen Z1, a processor designed for handheld gaming consoles.
• For the 55th anniversary, AMD utilized new AI technologies to restore old photos, employing colorization and upscaling techniques. Additionally, a 14-year-old video commissioned for the 40th anniversary has been restored using video upscaling software. The video features Jensen Huang, who was an AMD employee early in his career.

Commemorating the Anniversary

Unlike its 50th anniversary, there are no special edition hardware releases this time around. However, it’s possible that we might still get some new hardware later this year with the release of Ryzen 9000 and other products.

Happy 55th anniversary, AMD! Here’s to many more years of innovation and technological advancements! 🎉🚀