An analyst pointed out that this move could mean that Mubadala would bail out AMD, if it had to.

“If you have a lender of last resort like that, what’s the potential of you not having options?” said Cody Acree, an analyst at Williams Financial Group, in an interview with Bloomberg.

AMD is making adjustments to its business to sail through the current economic storm. The company refinanced a $485 million debt payment that was due in Q3; AMD announced that it would sell its Austin company campus for about $150 to $200 million, presumably to cover a $225 million payment that is due to be paid to Globalfoundries in Q1 2013; and a 15 percent cut of its workforce should positively influence its balance sheet further.

For the fourth quarter of 2012, AMD said it expects revenue to decrease by 9 percent sequentially.