AMD opens engineering lab in Tokyo to develop processors for notebooks TOKYO — Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) has opened an engineering laboratory in Tokyo to help develop processors for notebook computers, the company said Thursday.The AMD Japan Engineering Laboratory is housed in AMD’s Tokyo headquarters in the Shinjuku area of the city and will initially be managed by Steve Polzin, a senior AMD fellow and chief platform architect, the company said in a statement. AMD expects to have between 15 and 20 engineers working at the lab within the next 18 months.Notebook computers have been outselling desktop computers in Japan since 2002. Last year, total notebook sales were 6.3 million units compared to 6.2 million desktop PCs, according to market research company IDC. By 2008, IDC expects notebook sales to grow to 7.7 million, compared to 7.1 million desktops. As a result of the popularity of notebook computers, Japanese consumers are offered some of the most feature-packed machines in the world. For example, many of the latest machines offer built-in television tuners and hard-disk drive video recorder software. However, consumers still look for long battery life and that means low-power, high-performance processors are important for many PC makers.In opening the center, AMD is not alone in seeking a development edge in technologies that are more advanced in Asia than in its home base.Earlier this year Intel Corp. opened a research lab in Seoul, South Korea, to work on advanced wireless technologies, high-quality media coding and next-generation platforms for content distribution. Through the center it hopes to take advantage of local skills in a country that has one of the highest broadband penetration rates in the world and already offers multi-megabit per second Internet access via cell phones. Other U.S. technology companies have been in Asia longer.Microsoft Corp. founded a research and development center in Beijing, China, in 1998. The center was instrumental in developing the handwriting recognition system for the company’s Tablet PC system. Microsoft chose China to develop the system because of the greater complexity of Chinese characters over the Roman alphabet.IBM Corp. is also present in Japan. Its first notebook computer was developed in Japan and IBM continues to base the majority of its ThinkPad development team at a center outside near Tokyo. Technology Industry