Checking Out AMD’s Santa Clara Headquarters

To better show off what AMD has in store for 2018 (and the future) on the business side of its… business, the company invited press and analysts down to its new Santa Clara headquarters last week. Usually, I don’t take enough photos to justify a post, but this time was different. I didn’t see inside of AMD’s offices, only the bottom floor, but there’s enough that’s interesting to talk about.

To be clear, this is not meant to be a substantial or even worthwhile post; it’s more of a photo dump. AMD’s Santa Clara HQ hasn’t even been in operation for more than two years, so it was pretty exciting to check out the new location – which happens to be so close to Intel, it’d take just minutes for someone to leave one building and enter the other. It’s no wonder Vega wound up in Intel’s chips so fast!

Like most companies I’ve visited in the Bay Area, AMD’s security is top-notch. I even caught a few skeptical looks despite being part of a massive group. That said, everyone at AMD’s HQ was very friendly and accommodating. On the bottom floor, visitors can check out the variety of AMD products on display, and while I forgot to take some key shots, I did manage to get this one that felt familiar:

Being a gaming-focused company, it shouldn’t be a surprise that its employees love to game. To help them do that when time allows, AMD has a game room set up that features eight PCs connected through a LAN, two driving simulators, and even some consoles. If consoles sound odd for the Radeon crew, don’t forget that both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 feature AMD’s silicon under-the-hood.

Are those not the best fight sticks you’ve ever seen? None of the disc games on offer support the sticks, so I suspect there are many more digital-only games on the consoles. I could definitely see me being down with some King of Fighters action during a lunch break.

As for actual business, here’s the schedule we were provided:

AMD had a slew of speakers on stage throughout the day, including Chief Marketing Officer John Taylor:

I had many other shots of speakers, but the lighting in the room hated my phone’s camera. So, onto other things, here’s the lunch that AMD served us (it hit the spot!).

As someone who enjoys beer and doesn’t drink just to get sloshed, it’s rough to attend receptions that have nothing “on tap” other than swill. AMD went the extra mile this go-around, offering a drink for pretty much everyone. I didn’t even know Rogue made whisky, so TIL. Well, actually LWIL (last week I learned).

That seems like a good place to cut things off (no pun), and it’s not just because I have a single photo left to share. During his presentation, SVP and GM of AMD’s Computing and Graphics Business Jim Anderson implored people to check out the statue of company founder Jerry Sanders in the main lobby, and to take a selfie with it. I am not sure if anyone actually took a selfie, but I couldn’t leave without taking a photo:

Overall, the visit to AMD’s Santa Clara headquarters was excellent, thanks to the fantastic weather, great hospitality, and of course, all of the information us press and analysts were fed! If you’d like to learn more about what we learned there, don’t miss our recap.