Advanced Micro Devices, Inc has returned to profitability for the first quarter of 1997, after losing money for three straight fiscal quarters. The chipmaker reported net income down 49% at $12.9m on revenue which increased 1.4% to $552m. Net income per share was down 50% at $0.09, but still defied analysts’ expectations of a loss of $0.02. First quarter figures a year ago included both a one-time charge of $8.7m and a pre-tax gain of $24.7m. According to AMD, revenue growth was led by flash memories, Microsoft Windows-compatible microprocessors and programmable logic devices from the company’s Vantis division. AMD made the first shipments of its K6 processor this quarter (CI No 3132), a product it has spent $1bn developing and whose success is all-important in the struggle to compete with Intel, a company with revenues about ten times those of AMD. Wall Street would like to see AMD succeed, as Intel’s domination of the processor market is unwelcome. To this end, AMD is heavily targeting the consumer market which hasn’t been Intel’s core focus to date.