Intel isn't the only company which holds the financial bragging rights for last quarter, as AMD has recorded its first operational profit since Q3 2006. About time too.

In the second quarter of 2008, AMD had revenue from continuing operations of $1.349 billion, a net loss of $1.189 billion, a loss from continuing operations of $269 million and an operating loss of $143 million. In the third quarter of 2007, AMD had revenue from continuing operations of $1.558 billion, a net loss of $396 million, a loss from continuing operations of $344 million and an operating loss of $181 million.

“We achieved a significant milestone with the recent announcement of our Asset Smart strategy, which will transform both AMD and the industry through the creation of ‘The Foundry Company’,” said Dirk Meyer, AMD’s president and CEO. “AMD will be assured access to leading-edge manufacturing processes without the obligation to make the capital investment required to maintain a world-class manufacturing operation. We look forward to the successful closing of this joint venture early in 2009.”

“We are pleased to have reached our goal of operational profitability this quarter while increasing gross margin to 51 percent,” said Robert J. Rivet, AMD’s chief financial officer. “Improved execution across all of our businesses was punctuated by a refresh of our graphics product line-up, driving 55 percent sequential revenue growth and market share gains. In addition, customer adoption of our quad-core microprocessors was strong, with unit shipments increasing 46 percent sequentially.”

Third quarter 2008 gross margin was 51 percent, and 45 percent excluding process technology license revenue. This compares favorably to both the second quarter 2008 non-GAAP gross margin of 37 percent, and third quarter of 2007 gross margin of 41 percent.