AMD 2013 Annual Report Download - page 23

Backlog
Sales are made primarily pursuant to purchase orders for current delivery or agreements covering purchases
over a period of time. Some of these orders or agreements may be revised or canceled without penalty. Generally,
in light of current industry practice, we do not believe that such orders or agreements provide meaningful
backlog figures or are necessarily indicative of actual sales for any succeeding period.
Seasonality
Our operating results tend to vary seasonally. For example, historically, first quarter PC product sales are
generally lower than fourth quarter sales. In addition, with respect to our semi-custom SOC products for game
consoles, we expect sales patterns to follow the seasonal trends of a consumer business with sales in the first half
of the year being lower than sales in the second half of the year.
Employees
As of December 28, 2013, we had approximately 10,671 employees.
Environmental Regulations
Many aspects of our business operations and products are regulated by domestic and international
environmental laws and regulations. These regulations include limitations on discharge of pollutants to air, water,
and soil; remediation requirements; product chemical content limitations; manufacturing chemical use and
handling restrictions; pollution control requirements; waste minimization considerations; and requirements with
respect to treatment, transport, storage and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes. If we fail to comply with any
applicable environmental regulations, we may be subject to fines, suspension of production, alteration of our
manufacturing processes, import/export restrictions, sales limitations and/or criminal and civil liabilities.
Existing or future regulations could require us to procure expensive pollution abatement or remediation
equipment, to modify product designs or to incur other expenses to comply with environmental regulations. Any
failure to adequately control the use, disposal, storage or discharge of hazardous substances could expose us to
future liabilities that could have a material adverse effect on our business. We believe we are in material
compliance with applicable environmental requirements and do not expect those requirements to result in
material expenditures in the foreseeable future.
Environmental laws are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent over time.
For example, the European Union (EU) and China are two among a growing number of jurisdictions that have
enacted restrictions on the use of lead and other materials in electronic products. Other countries have also
implemented similar restrictions. These regulations affect semiconductor devices and packaging. As regulations
restricting materials in electronic products continue to increase around the world, there is a risk that the cost,
quality and manufacturing yields of products that are subject to these restrictions, may be less favorable
compared to products that are not subject to such restrictions, or that the transition to compliant products may
produce sudden changes in demand, which may result in excess inventory.
Recent U.S. legislation requires disclosure and reporting requirements for companies who use “conflict”
minerals that originate from the Democratic Republic of Congo or adjoining countries. We will likely incur
additional costs associated with complying with these requirements, such as costs related to determining the
source of any conflict minerals used in our products, auditing the process and reporting to our customers and the
U.S. government. Also, since our supply chain is complex, we may face reputational challenges if we are unable
to sufficiently verify the origins of the subject minerals. Moreover, we are likely to encounter challenges to
satisfy those customers who require that all of the components of our products are certified as “conflict free” and
if we cannot satisfy these customers, they may choose a competitor’s products. In January 2014, Intel announced
that all of its microprocessor products are “conflict free.” Our first “conflict” minerals report covering the 2013
calendar year is due to the SEC by June 2, 2014.
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