UPDATE: AMD Shares Jump After Formalizing Spin-Off

By Benjamin Pimentel

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. jumped Tuesday morning after it formally spun-off its manufacturing facilities into a new company as part of its "asset smart" strategy.

AMD (AMD) was up more than 6% after the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based tech giant late Monday said that it had closed the deal with the Advanced Technology Investment Company and Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi.

The new company, temporarily called "The Foundry Company," will be formally launched this week, AMD said.

Under the deal, AMD received $700 million from ATIC for its ownership interest in the new entity. The new company also assumed responsibility for the repayment of roughly $1.1 billion of associated AMD debt.

Mubadala also paid AMD roughly $125 million for 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants for 35 million additional shares.

AMD shareholders had approved the plan last month. Analysts have said the deal could help the chip maker deal with mounting financial woes, although the company still faces major hurdles as the chip industry reels from a severe downturn.

"We think on one hand 'Asset Smart' bolsters AMD's balance sheet, improves liquidity, increases manufacturing capacity and creates additional funds for future CapEx and R&D expenditures," analyst Betsy Van Hees of Caris & Company said in a Tuesday note to clients.

"However, on the other hand, meaningful improvement to AMD's financials remains unclear on a consolidated basis due to our expectations for 'The Foundry Company' to incur operating losses," Van Hees added.