Oh my. Facing mounting debt and increasing costs, AMD is splitting into two parts: one to design chips and one to make them. The move is made possible by a $6bn infusion by two Abu Dhabi investment firms, an amount which will go a long way toward relieving debt and covering the cost of establishing the manufacturing arm (”Foundry” for now) as a workable partner. They’ll be splitting the debt and building a new chip fab in upstate New York (with some help from the state — where’s that money coming from?)

If this desperate move doesn’t succeed, AMD will surely fall, and then Intel will reign supreme. And those would be dark days indeed.