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To: FJB who wrote (91780)	11/5/1999 4:10:00 PM
From: Burt Masnick	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

More good news about AMD (since all news about AMD is good news to the zealots over on that other thread) Friday November 5, 3:32 pm Eastern Time S&P affirms Advanced Micro Devices (Press release provided by Standard & Poor's) NEW YORK, Nov 5 - Standard & Poor's assigned its single-'B'-plus rating to Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s (AMD) $200 million four-year secured revolver. Standard & Poor's also withdrew its single-'B' rating on AMD's former bank loan, which has been cancelled. The single-'B' corporate credit and senior secured debt ratings and triple-'C'-plus subordinated debt rating on AMD were also affirmed. The outlook is negative. AMD's ratings reflect the challenges the company faces in executing its business plan in a very competitive market. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD manufactures personal computer microprocessors and other semiconductors. Near-term stresses are substantial. Although the company has continued to introduce higher speed variants of the mainstream ''K6'' and recently launched the technologically advanced K7 ''Athlon,'' average unit prices continue to decline in the face of aggressive competition from Intel Corp.'s Celeron series. AMD's historical manufacturing execution has been problematical. Additionally, recent financial results have been affected by distributors flushing inventories of discontinued Cyrix processors made by National Semiconductor Corp., while the Taiwan earthquake has also affected production of laptop computers. As a result, the company has consistently reported pretax losses. AMD's prospects rest on the Athlon, and to a lesser degree on its flash memory business, while the communications chip business is for sale. Yet, even if Athlon execution is flawless, the chip will compete against Intel's ''Itanium'' early in 2000, while AMD's long-term product development capabilities are constrained by limited R&D resources. Free cash flows have been substantially negative in the last few years, and net debt has increased by $1 billion in the last several years despite $500 million in proceeds from the sale of the programmable logic business earlier in 1999. Cash balances totaled $377 million at Sept. 30, 1999, and are likely to decline from operating causes. A single-'B'-plus rating is assigned to the company's $200 million four-year secured revolving credit agreement. The borrowing base, up to 85% of accounts receivable from original equipment manufacturers and up to 50% of accounts receivable from distributors, is secured by substantially all of the company's accounts receivable plus inventories. In a distress scenario, lenders can expect to recover 100% of their loans. Ratings on the company's former $400 million bank loan agreement are withdrawn. OUTLOOK: NEGATIVE The company continues to face severe operational challenges in an unforgiving competitive environment. Failure to meet its own aggressive product line commitments could lead to lower ratings within the year, Standard & Poor's said.

To: FJB who wrote (91780)	11/5/1999 4:10:00 PM
From: GVTucker	Respond to of 186894

FYI, according to Micron, they raised contract price $0.50 on Monday to $11.25.