Chip maker AMD reported a net loss of $135m (£82.5m) in the third quarter of 2009, compared with a loss of $127m (£77.6m) in the same period last year – the firm's 12th consecutive quarter of losses.

Revenues for the quarter were $1.4bn (£800m), a 22 per cent fall on revenues of $1.8bn (£1.1m) for the same period last year.

But the results were better than those forecast by some analysts on Wall Street.

AMD has a weaker position than Intel in microprocessors for laptop computers, the source of most of PC mananufacturers' current growth.

But AMD has a large business in chips used for graphics, and is expected to strengthen its position in notebook chips soon.

AMD chief executive Dirk Meyer said: “[despite a net loss over the quarter] we have seen growth in microprocessor and graphics unit shipments, while improved factory utilization rates, higher microprocessor average selling price and an increase in 45nm product shipments actually resulted in a gross margin improvement from the prior quarter.”