Absolutely Fabless

If it’s true that “real men have fabs,” as Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Chairman W. J. “Jerry” Sanders III (at right in Indiana Jones drag) once said, then AMD is the semiconductor industry’s latest eunuch. This morning the chipmaker said it will spin off its manufacturing operations, splitting itself into two companies–one to design chips and one to make them. The new manufacturing company, called Foundry Co., will be a joint venture between AMD and two Abu Dhabi investment firms–Mubadala Development Co.