Major employers ride rollercoaster.(Advanced Micro Devices, Dell Computer, IBM, Motorola)(Brief Article)

Area's largest tech companies experience ups, downs

What have Austin's tech titans got in store?

Most observers are keenly paying attention to what Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Motorola Inc. have planned for the near future.

AMD is preparing to decide where to build its next-generation chip plant. Several sites in Central Texas are under consideration. Wherever the plant lands, it will be a multibillion-dollar shot in the arm for that community.

Meanwhile, Motorola is trying to turn around its financially ailing Semiconductor Products Sector. A sale or spinoff of the Austin-based unit isn't being ruled out, but Motorola executives don't expect that to occur. The semiconductor unit pumps an estimated $2.5 billion to $3 billion a year into the region's economy.

At the same time, the area's other major tech employers -- Applied Materials Inc., Dell Computer Corp. and IBM Corp. -- are coping with the economic slump.

AMD

News that AMD is searching for a site for its new multibillion-dollar chipmaking plant may be a silver lining amid dark economic clouds.

AMD executives are …