The past few days have seen a few unsettling rumors regarding plans for AMD to leave the fabrication business. Articles and discussion were seen pretty much everywhere. While it was certainly plausible, given their dismal performance the past six months or so, AMD has come out to dispel those rumors.
They have come out to say their manufacturing plants will remain in business, regardless of the current financial situation, and brought out their Dresden plant as a perfect example of why:
"Dresden remains technologically most advanced manufacturing facility and the cornerstone of AMD's processor manufacturing. Nothing will change here. Different reports miss any base and are complete rumours. The same applies to appropriate analyst reports. "
Of course, analysts are free to speculate all they want. That is what they do, being analysts and all. You can't blame them, given the staggering amount of money AMD has lost and their eroding marketshare. The rumors stemmed from analysts reports, and likely has upset AMD if their plan is to maintain full speed ahead. In the long run, maintaining their own manufacturing facilities is what a chip developer would want.
The upcoming releases of Barcelona and their new chipsets will tell a lot more than rumors and press releases, though. Can they pull themselves out of the rut they are in at the moment? Given their history, I'd say yes. As for them ditching manufacturing altogether, I think we can safely say it was just a rumor.