AMD didn't have the best 2011 ever, but a sluggish Bulldozer and reduced marketshare didn't destroy the semiconductor company's balance sheet at all. While AMD lost $177 million in the fourth quarter (on revenue of $1.69 billion), it actually maintained flat revenue of $6.57 billion and took home $491 million in profit over the full year when all was said and done. Apparently even though the desktop chips failed to make a dent, the company's Fusion APUs, Opteron 6200 server processors, and professional GPUs fared better than ever, each generating record revenues for the company. AMD says it shipped over 30 million AMD Fusion chips in particular.

What's more, though AMD isn't directly involved in manufacturing Intel ultrabook competitors, CEO Rory Read insists that they're on the way: according to Seeking Alpha's transcript of the investor webcast, the company's Trinity chips may appear in a 17mm thin laptop, and AMD's already racked up "a record-setting year for design wins" with the new architecture for 2012. 17 millimeters wouldn't be as thin as the thinnest Intel-powered ultrabooks, but it's definitely right in that range, and from what we've seen of Trinity so far we're excited by the possibilities. Trinity is scheduled to arrive in the first half of this year.