AMD has announced a $1.42 billion loss in Q4, its ninth quarterly loss in a row. Actually, the result isn't all that bad, as the company lost $1.77 billion in Q4 2007, and we have to take the recession into account.

The chipmaker's revenues dropped by 35 percent compared to Q3, and gross margins fell from 57 to 23 percent in the same period. The company is still writing off ATI takeover charges, and this time around it wrote off $684 million.

Although the loss is significant, it is lower than many analysts had initially expected. Considering the ATI writeoff and the state of the global economy, the reduced loss is seen by many as a positive development.