AMD has announced a definitive agreement to sell ZT Systems' data center infrastructure manufacturing business to Sanmina for $3 billion in cash and stock, which includes a contingent payment of up to $450 million. This announcement follows earlier reports from April that AMD was looking to divest the facility it had acquired as part of its $4.9 billion purchase of ZT in March 2025. The deal set to wrap up around late 2025 shows AMD's plan to steer clear of making products that compete with its customers. At the same time, AMD will keep ZT Systems' design and customer support teams to speed up the rollout of AMD AI systems for cloud clients. Sanmina will also become a top choice for introducing new products in AMD's cloud rack and large-scale AI solutions. "By combining the deep experience of our AI systems design team with our new preferred NPI partnership with Sanmina, we expect to strengthen our U.S-based manufacturing capabilities for rack and cluster-scale AI systems and accelerate quality and time-to-market for our cloud customers," said Forrest Norrod, executive vice president and general manager, Data Center Solutions business unit at AMD.
The sale drew a lot of interest from different manufacturers, with early reports showing that Taiwanese OEM makers Compal and Wiwynn were the top choices, along with U.S. electronics firm Jabil. Inventec and Pegatron decided not to take part. Sanmina, the final buyer, is a U.S.-based company that provides integrated manufacturing solutions to the global Electronic Manufacturing Services field. Jure Sola, Chairman and CEO of Sanmina Corporation, said that ZT Systems' skills in liquid cooling, its manufacturing ability, and its know-how in cloud and AI setup will add to Sanmina's worldwide range and vertical integration skills. "Together, we will be better able to deliver a competitive advantage to our customers with solutions for the entire product lifecycle. We look forward to our ongoing partnership with AMD as we work together to set the standard for quality and flexibility to benefit the entire AI ecosystem." said Jure Sola, Chairman and CEO of Sanmina Corporation.