Jerry Sanders and seven colleagues co-founded Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, in 1969.
The founders left Fairchild Semiconductor during a period of disagreement and established AMD in Sunnyvale, California. Sanders, a former Fairchild executive, became the company’s first chief executive and led it for decades. AMD initially produced logic chips and later became a major supplier of microprocessors and graphics products.
AMD’s early relationship with Intel included a cross-licensing agreement that helped it manufacture x86-compatible processors. The company is now especially associated with Ryzen CPUs and Radeon graphics. A common mix-up is saying AMD was founded by engineers alone; Sanders was a marketing executive, and the founding group included former Fairchild colleagues with varied roles.