Advanced Micro Devices Inc,  has delayed shipment of major chip products until next year but aims to return to profitability in 2008, Chief Operating Officer Dirk Meyer said on Thursday.

AMD, world’s No 2 supplier of computer processors, has struggled in the last two years with market share losses and chip shipment delays. It posted four straight quarters of losses this year amid renewed competition from its far larger rival, Intel Corp.

Mr Meyer said AMD would ship its high-end Barcelona chip products and Phenom products in the 2008 first quarter. Speaking at a meeting with analysts, he apologised for delays and promised to do better next year.

The Barcelona chip is designed for computer servers and the Phenom chip is aimed at desktop PCs. Both are quad-core chips with four number-crunching "brains" per processor.

Finances affected

AMD executives said they would work hard next year to get back on track with shipments. “We’re not happy with our performance in quad-core, not only because it affected our financials but because it let down our partners and customers,” said AMD Executive Vice President Computing Groducts Group Mario Rivas.

Mr Meyer said AMD, which supplies about a fifth of the world’s computer chips, expects to increase its market share “tremendously” and turn a profit in 2008.

CEO Hector Ruiz had said  that AMD’s  goal was to return to profitability soon. The company said customer demand is strong and it expects increased momentum across all major dimensions of its business as every business unit enters “an exciting new product cycle — from panel processors in the digital television space to high-performance quad-core processors to next-generation notebook platforms.