Update: AMD has denied claims of present lay offs although it did not discard the possibility for the near future.
AMD is in a less than ideal place today. Despite of the revival of innovation on its ATI graphics business, which had slowed down considerably since they acquired it, they are not doing quite as well with processors, which is the company's bread and butter. But perhaps even more alarming is AMD's financial state after reporting a $3.3 billion loss in 2007 from $6 billion in revenues.
In order to get its act together, AMD depends on its processor business, but with the constant delays of Phenom, it will be an uphill battle against a dominant Intel not only in the desktop and server markets, but the fast growing mobile segment as well. There are rumors around that AMD may soon announce lay offs for 5% of its workforce, which may be part of a plan to reduce costs. Then again, we also hear that the Phenom could be doing better than expected.
At the end of the day, what we do know is that we rather have AMD alive and kicking pushing Intel and everybody else around for innovation, faster releases and lower costs.