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  • Roy2001 - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link

    He want to fight with Intel at ANY price. He ruined Motorola's CPU business and now AMD.

    He took/take it personal, would fight Intel disregarding that AMD has lost billions of dollars for 2 years and on the edge of bankrupt. He would bow to Arabic dollars to fight.

    I feel AMD is kidnapped by him just like we are all kidnapped by Wallstreet.
  • AnnonymousCoward - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link

    "last reported $5.3 billion in debt"

    That's funny, they just bought ATI for $5.4B!

    It sure looked like a horrible move to me at the time, and now even more so. The company has been in financial trouble ever since. And what do the have to show for? A nonexistent Fusion processor. I don't even work for AMD and could see it was a bad move. They would have been better off reverse-engineering another graphics architecture and integrating it, or hiring some graphics companies' engineers. A fellow at Nvidia might work for $3M/year.
  • AnAverageJoe - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - link

    Sad news indeed but AMD is in trouble and needs to do whatever is required to survive as a company. Yes I'm being selfish because I believe the competition brings us better products at lower prices.

    I do not see that this cannot work: Companies as large as AMD and Intel are very tower aligned. If the "old" AMD was strict in the fabs being independent business units then this amounts to a legal formalization of existing business processes. In any case, will take some time for those processes to change except where mandated by law, (esp. large) orgs simply don't change but so fast. It also frees up (hopefully signifcant and definitely needed) resources so AMD can focus on the one thing it needs to to do going forward: designing better(=competitive with Intel) CPUs.

    The real trick IMO is: The fabs will not be dedicated to AMD, so can AMD keep enough of their focus to make its products competitive?
  • jus223 - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - link

    AMD havent been defeated yet. This spin off thing is a good idea for the company in the current economic climate. Who says that AMD wont be able to buy back their fabs if they start making a proper profit again? Or, who says that they cant build more fabs??

    When designing their processors all they need is a mini pilot scale fab and with the correct maths and physics they should be able to scale their processes up to full scale production. Im sure that AMD have already begun work on this type of system. Dirk Meyer is supposed to be an individual thats a lot more focussed on R&D type activities rather than manufacturing activities.

    I wouldnt write them off yet. We will never go back to the days of intel charging thousands for processors. AMD can afford to loose market share now that they are not responsible for fab running costs. Operating costs for them are now lower so i think that they will be around for years to come. (VIA are fabless yet they are still in business). The real question is can they regain any market share.
  • atomikyyz - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - link

    here is an interesting related article...http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/who-benef...">http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/0...efits-fr...
  • emilyek - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - link

    Clearly this is an exit strategy; Intel is unstoppable.

    AMD may end up being exclusively a GPU designer-- that is, if they survive at all.

    They aren't behind Nvidia in the way they are hopelessly behind Intel.

    The Foundry Company may very well be the only thing around a couple years from now.
  • ceefka - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - link

    Arab Micro Devices
  • MDme - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    Doesn't AMD need control of at least 51% of its FABS to continue the x86 license from intel?
  • NullSubroutine - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - link

    I believe the "retains 50% voting rights despite owing 44% of the company" meets the criteria for the x86 license. If Intel really thinks it can revoke the x86 license they are going to be in a pickle, not just with the federal governments, but also because if I recall AMD owns the rights to x64. I don't believe there will be a future for Intel on 32bit.
  • skyyspam - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - link

    Err, does x64 fall under the same license as x86?
  • Ryan Smith - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    I have heard the same rumors, however clearly this is not a problem as AMD is continuing to produce x86 processors. What the entire facts of the matter are however, I do not know at this time.
  • TA152H - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    It's sad for me to see a company I followed for the last 30 years die like this. Hector Ruiz should be brutally beaten, for being an incompetent ass that sodomized the company. I knew it was a sad day when Jerry Sanders was thrown off, and that dickhead Ruiz took over. Everyone was celebrating, and I was so hoping I was wrong. But, this brainless, visionless jackass made a lot of money while ruining someone else's company.

    Selling their fabs will forever end any competition they have with Intel. It's like chopping your arm off when you are struggling with food. You burn less calories, but you're going to need that arm again in the future, and you'll never be the same without it. They've forever acknowledged they are a second rate company from this point forward. They'll never challenge Intel again. It's a really bad day.

    Hector Ruiz is the piece of crap we have to thank for this. This vile human degenerate has made this his legacy. He took a company with technology leadership, that was building new fabs, and was ahead of Intel in a number of areas, and has replaced it with a decaying, blundering, castrated company that is now largely owned by Arabs. It's great to have our technology companies owned by people who think little of us, and find our culture decadent and disgusting.

    It's a dark day.
  • helldrell666 - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    AMD didn't die...It just transformed it's 2 Fabs in Germany into a new company and AMD will own about 45 per cent of The Foundry Company’s fully-converted common stock and ATIC will own 55 per cent.The two companies will still under AMD's control.

    check the article from the inquirer.com.

    Anandtech is a INTEL paid out site.....don't trust them or their numbers.
  • TA152H - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - link

    You know, saying AnandTech is an Intel paid site is kind of silly. They aren't right all the time, but anyone who gives opinions isn't right all the time, and you can't questions motives everytime someone says something you don't agree with.

    For example, the line that this without a doubt saved AMD is plain stupid. But, I don't think they are so happy about this move because Intel pays them, I assume the writer is simply a fool.

    Intel's superb manufacturing, and the synergy between their manufacturing and design will give them a big advantage over AMD. Real men do have fabs, and they control their products from beginning to end, and don't hope that their fab partners do it right. You need control.

    Can you imagine Intel doing the same? Trusting the manufacturing of their CPUs to someone else? It's such an absurd thought, and an impossible one, that you wouldn't even consider it. But AMD, it's somehow OK? They are a confirmed second rate company now. They will never compete with Intel again, and that's the death of the company.

    Winston Churchill once said after the "miracle" of Dunkirk - "You don't win wars by retreating". Keep it in perspective, this is a retreat that has forever weakened AMD, and their ability to compete with Intel. It's a very, very painful retreat that will have negative effects on the company indefinitely. It's the beginning of the death spiral.

    Only IBM remains now as a competitor. I wish they would just buy AMD up like they should have years ago. I guess they knew that with Hector the reckor they could get it cheap in the future. But, it's cheap now, and they have their own fabs, so this disaster would be unimportant. It's the only hope for AMD now. They used to live as a parasitic, low cost provider of CPUs, before they made truly competitive technology, but now with the Atom out, and Intels P8 line so competitive in every segment (Core, Pentium and Celeron), it's hard to see how AMD can exist as this type of provider going forward. They're done in the server once the P9 comes out, and they can't compete in low cost, low power, or mobile. They just have to hope Intel leaves them some table scraps, or they are done. Really, this company has no reason to exist anymore, except to make Intel greater. Well, they won't once the P9 comes out. Thank Hector Ruiz for that.
  • helldrell666 - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - link

    Well,anandtech is without a doubt a INTEL paid out site.
    Just check their headlines and reviews of AMD's products.
    6-xeon to bulldoze AMD.
    THe competetition for the 4870
    Breaking up is hard......

    In the first one they compared a low end Opteron to the latest 6-cores Dunnington.And i wouldn't trust their numbers.
    In the second review,They assumed that the 4870 competes against the 260gtx which is wrong the 4870 competes directly with the 280gtx check the review of the card on techreport....
    and they used the godly res. which makes the 4870 bottlenecked by it's limited on board memory.And their numbers were tricky and obviously inaccurate "played with".
    In the third article,They are talking bout AMD going fabless which has nothing to do with what realy happened.AmD decided to share the property of it's 2 fabs in Dresden with an Arabian company called ATIC.
    So they transformed the fabs to a new company called at this moment the foundary company.And AMD will still own 45% of the new company with full control on the fabs as well as it's original fab in Texas.
    ATIC will take the responsibility of marketing AMD's products in the middle east and west Asia as well as building a new up to date fab in NY.c.ohhhhh and ATIC wich belongs to the Emiratian prince Hamad bin Jasem,Will will afford the costs of upgrading the 2 fabs in Germany with expanding the Fab38 to make it capable of producing bulk silicon in High or Low – K process. In order for AMD to start making its own GPUs.

    So, all in all,AMD still has full control on it's three fabs.AMD now has a lot of cash to attract some new fresh brains,ready for innovation.AMD is getting it's fabs upgraded on other companies costs as well as getting a new fab next year.
  • Ryan Smith - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    If there is a problem with our numbers, please by all means let us know. All of this information was taken directly from AMD's various press releases and conference calls, there is no reason that I know of why they should not be correct. We strive to always be accurate, please let us know if you find anything.
  • Roy2001 - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link

    An fanboy does not need fact. He just need to know his favorate is best and any negative comments is not true.
  • CEO Ballmer - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    AMD is waaaaay behind and I'm not sure that this will help them.

    http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com">http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
  • wolfman3k5 - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    You would do anything to get some traffic to your stupid blog. How about buying some Google ad words and maybe some Yahoo advertising, or even some advertising on this web site? Moron...
  • Jotagabo - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    We must help AMD. Wthout AMD we would be back to Pentium II or III,
    550 Mz, 3 to 4 thousand dollars a piece!
  • helldrell666 - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    AMD still owns >80% of AMD. They simply transferred the FABs from the old AMD into a new company they formed with ATIC, called at the moment "The Foundry Company."
    The fabs in Dresden have not been sold, but AMD has decided to share ownership of some of its assets in return for a huge investment from ATIC. AMD retains controlling interest of > 80% in AMD and a ~45% stake in the The Foundry Company, and both companies remain under AMD management. Instead of being a cash-strapped single company, AMD is now two companies and flush with cash.
  • segerstein - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    Top of the line microchip production going to Abu Dhabi, our Muslim brother - that share our values of personal and political freedom?
  • DeepThought86 - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    Yeah, like those terrorist Jews in Israel who shoot up innocent civilians and pretend to be the victims with endless reminders of the holocaust etc. Intel has transferred a huge amount of technical knowhow to a bunch of people who have bought up the political class in the US and exert ridiculous influence over middle-east policy. At least the Abu Dhabi people have real money unlike the Jewish Wall Street "geniuses" who are going to feed on $700bln of Gentile taxpayer money.
  • wolfman3k5 - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    I can see that you're clueless. In two sentences you've explained to all of us how antisemitic and racist you are. Now, let me ask you, if those Intel military wouldn't exist, where would money come from? Oh, and how about the fact that Intel moved most of their facilities to the outside of the U.S.? The govt. could have bought stock in AMD and helped the company get on their feet. It's a miracle that AMD lasted this long, considering the struggles they had.
  • Tilmitt - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    Evangelical American Christians have quite alot in common with the Muslim world.

    But in any case 80% of the UAE is made up of non-UAE citizens, no doubt a large amount of which the "values" of personal and political freedom with your people.
  • djc208 - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    Maybe we need to get the Government to give AMD some of that 700 billion. Require that they keep their research facilities and future fabs here. At least this would keep the technology and manufacturing capacity in the US and help maintain much-needed competition against Intel.
  • Poloasis - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    Well there is almost nothing that the bush Economic Policies can't touch. Buying you next computer at the local Bestbuy will cost $90 without a processor and a range of Intel processor stating at $2000, that is if AMD goes belly up.
  • JarredWalton - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    LOL... I was going to make some snide comment along similar lines. However, I'll just keep out of the politics. Remember, of course, that the US gov't still has to approve this whole deal, and they may choose to do exactly what you suggest just to keep AMD/Foundry Company as a US firm.

    Now if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go bone up on my driving skillz; I here there's a job opening to become the Deliverator in a few years. After all, it seems the only area we continue to have success is in fast food and microcode.... ;-)

    (For those who missed it, that's a Snow Crash reference. Read the book if you haven't.)
  • Oyeve - Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - link

    Hiro Protanganist! :-)
  • Oyeve - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    What will happen with AMDs GPU business? Hopefully if the crap hits the fan they can sell off ATI.
  • Calin - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    They have big plans, to integrate the CPU and the GPU. They bet their future on this, and they won't abandon the GPU business
  • Einy0 - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    This may end being one of the worst days in the history of tech. Then again it may end helping AMD. I guess we'll wait and see. This could allow AMD to perhaps fab cpus with TSMC or others if the process technology of the fabs aren't keeping up. I just hope they can stay somewhat competitive with Intel. Intel will go back to their old ways of jacking up prices and slowly developing new chips.
  • Calin - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    The culture of AMD, to build its own processors, has bitten them in the a$$ in the days of K6 and Athlon64/P4 Prescott - remember when AMD had prices higher than Intel? They were running at full capacity, and would have gained nothing by decreasing prices.
    Would they have been able to double the production, they might have sold everything with maybe just a little decrease in price.
  • Regs - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    He deserves it!
  • Clauzii - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    ... then be it. I'll rather see AMD continue what they do best, and if done right, ie. keeping a tight connection to the new factories, they might even be able to continue to make highend products, even though the design-to-product cycle might rise a bit.
  • pervisanathema - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    How quickly things change. AMD went from being the enthusiasts' favorite to a boring sidenote almost overnight. They had better hang in there as they are back in their old role - forcing prices down on the good stuff from Intel.
  • SuperGee - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link

    I always thought that AMD will get into trouble.

    The formost important factor is.
    AMD is smaller.
    The tird. Every dieshrink get more expensive in investment.

    This combine leads to.
    Not competive R&D Resources compared to iNtel.
    Less capital for bigger investment needed can't be comply to.
    Taylored iNtel to far in Dieshrink execution.
    More dificulty switching dieshrinks.
    Because this underdog pole position. Dificulty to get in the high-end leagu. Keeps ASP down wich is a realy bad thing.
    Where iNtel keep cassing in oltho lower ASP due to competition of AMD in the midrange and low. AMD misses the higher midrange and high-end profit's.
    And loss of market as being to far from the leading produkts.

    It's bad.
    MAking the fab's independant is a good thing
    But R&D to is important to get the maximise out of it in the future

    iNTel succses is mostly
    Dieshrink lead. Clock scaling and power drow
    R&D maximise architekture developments put to good use to give them the lead on IPC performance
    Long term high ASP
    Largest part of there marketshare are OEM deals.

    It will get realy bad for innovation and ASP wenn only iNTel stay's in the market. And AMD dissapers. CPU get expensive.

    Problem from being a underdog is. You operate in the retail market.
    Retail are just like whores. They go to the king of the hill.
    IF you market share is retail and you are second place you go down.
    While OEM dependand company like iNtel keeps cashin in even in there worse day's.

    Even the bad netburst early day's give AMD ASP a blow even if the performance where very competive.

    I hope splitting up works out. Also for the far future for AMD as CPU developer(MAnufactorer)
  • deeznuts - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    If the bitch can't swim, she bound to drizzown
  • Calin - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    Their old role (up to and including K5) was forcing down the prices on the old stuff from Intel. The K6 and K7 was forcing down the prices of good stuff from Intel

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