OCT. 8–SHANGHAI, China–AMD today announced it has signed a research and development joint venture agreement with China Basic Education Software Company, Ltd. (CBE), forming the new entity, Beijing CBE-AMD Information Technology Company, Ltd.

With the aim to address China’s large and expanding IT education market, the joint venture will develop three types of hardware platforms including a student PC, a teacher PC and a classroom server.

The platforms are planned to contain AMD silicon crossing all three of AMD’s product lines: x86 microprocessors, MIPS-based embedded processors, and flash memory devices. With a combined focus on education and technology, the venture will strive to provide learning tools for the students, teachers and classrooms of China. Both parties look forward to future joint developments in China as well.

The agreement, which is still subject to regulatory approval, was formalized in a signing ceremony that took place today in Shanghai. Hector Ruiz, AMD’s president and chief executive officer, was present to sign the agreement with CBE board chairman Wang Xiao Wu.

Based in Beijing, CBE was formed in February of 2001 by the Shanghai Shenhua Holdings Company, Ltd. (also known as the Brilliance Group), China’s Ministry of Education’s state-owned company called the National Center for Curriculum and Text (NCCT), and the Beijing Normal University.

“AMD is one of the few companies in the world with the experience, technology, and industry relationships to provide complete connectivity solutions for this special opportunity in China’s IT education market,” says Wang Xiao Wu. “AMD is the right partner with the right products at the right time.”