[randog]

Californian chip maker AMD is to set up a design centre in India...

How long before Athlon clones start showing up in Asia? Any bets? Two, three years?

Outsourcing your core competency is a really, really bad idea.

[oceanview]

the US executives who are doing this will be long gone by then, they don't care.

as with the example I gave of my co-worker with a college bound child; all these jobs are going offshore, and the market is reacting - fewer and fewer people are going in for engineering.

[TopDog2]

Outsourcing your core competency is a really, really bad idea.

This is a key concept taught at every business school. I learned it when I was earning my MBA. I guess the siren song of short-term profits is too strong to resist?

[Cronos]

Outsourcing your core competency is a really, really bad idea.

Uhhh, AMD is NOT outsourcing, it's setting up another design shop in a different location. This is NOT outsourcing. AMD and Intel have a number of Americans of Asian descent in their design departments already, ergo, grab good engineers/technicians at the source.