Advanced Micro Devices' 1Q loss matches analysts' estimates

AMD's new Opteron server chips critical to the company's financial recovery were delayed for eight months because of technical glitches. They didn't roll out in force until this month.

AMD executives did not elaborate on which markets' sluggish consumer spending hurt it. But research firms Gartner Inc. and IDC reported this week that the growth in PC shipments in the U.S. slowed in the first quarter while growth continued accelerating overseas.

Wall Street was also hoping for more details about AMD's restructuring plans.

The company has been hinting for a year that it is thinking about offloading some of its manufacturing duties to outside factories to save money, but it so far has not divulged any details.

Those changes would come on top of the 10 percent reduction in AMD's global work force, affecting about 1,600 workers, that the company announced this month.

AMD Chief Executive Hector Ruiz would only say Thursday that the company is "on a fast pace" toward further restructuring and hopes to make an announcement soon about its manufacturing strategy.

AMD's stock is still way off its recent high of $42.10 in early 2006, when the company was steadily stealing market share from Intel with chips that were seen as more energy-efficient. After Intel fired back with a powerful new lineup, AMD's stock began sliding.

Meanwhile, Intel's profits are improving because it has made a speedy transition to a new chip-making technology that lowers the cost of production.

AMD lags Intel in making its own transition to the 45-nanometer manufacturing process, which means the chips' circuitry is shrunken to an average size of 45 billionths of a meter. Smaller circuitry means chips cost less to make and they can hold more transistors.

AMD said its 45-nanometer products are expected in the second half of 2008.