It's time for AMD to give it up

[Indyan]

If you've been following the AMD saga lately, you probably know that this company is in utter disrepair. After shocking the world just a few years ago with a downright unbelievable set of processors that blew Intel's socks off, AMD awoke a sleeping giant that has proven to be more formidable and dangerous than ever before.

To make matters worse, AMD is in financial trouble and hopes to turn a profit by the latter half of 2008. Oh and in case you're keeping score, the company just admitted that it overpaid for ATI and will need to adjust its financial statements to reflect that error in judgment.

But for all of its issues, AMD is still the world's number two microprocessor maker in the world and it does control one of the major video card manufacturers. But is this enough to justify its existence? If it is, shouldn't something be done with the company's decision-makers to jumpstart things a bit?

Regardless of where you stand on this issue, there's one element to this story that should not be overlooked -- AMD is in dire straits right now and its chances of getting out from under it are dwindling with each new processor from Intel.

If you ask me, AMD should be sold to the highest bidder and liquidated. Of course, if you think that's a bit extreme, fire all of its loser executives and try to find some people who actually know how to run a business and compete against larger competitors.

Trust me, it's the only way.

"We have gone through a very difficult time, reacted quickly and decisively, and we are on our way to really have, I believe, a phenomenal transition year in 2008," CEO Hector Ruiz said at an analyst conference Thursday in New York.

Don't you just hate the corporate line of garbage that continually flies out of the mouths of executives who have no idea what's going on?

If Ruiz and company reacted quickly and decisively, why doesn't AMD have anything slated for release in the near-future that can actually compete with Intel? Sure, he can promise us big things for the coming months, but unless he gives us some details, what good is it?

And while AMD has already said that its plans for Bobcat and Bulldozer should revolutionize the industry, all it has really said about either product is their ability to reduce power consumption and that they will be built them from the ground up. Whoop dee doo.

The future of AMD looks bleak, to say the least. Just because the company believes it can turn itself around, what makes anyone believe that's true? It's a company that will be run by the same fools who have driven it into the ground and oh, there's this company called Intel that's kicking the hell out of it every week.

Here is how to fix AMD:

Choice one: Sell it

A bit too much, you say? Why? AMD is obviously in dire straits, but it has a number of promising attributes that would attract some companies who think they have what it takes to make it big in the processor industry.

Not only does the company own ATI, which contrary to popular belief, was a good move on the part of AMD, it has a solid infrastructure in place along with a number of plants that should make for a low barrier to entry.

Simply put, AMD is not failing because of poor quality or downright garbage products, it's failing because the management has no idea about how to compete with a monstrous company like Intel.

Choice two: get rid of all decision-makers

Much of AMD's troubles this year have been the result of poor management from CEO Ruiz and others. With widespread technical problems hindering its ability to get Barcelona chips out to customers in mass quantities, AMD lost out on a significant portion of the market and the opportunity to (possibly) turn things around.

And while some may call this an error in production or some kind of technical glitch that was beyond the control of management, I'm not so quick to agree. By promising too much and not delivering on those promises, AMD single-handedly created a firestorm that quickly became a PR nightmare.

At least Ruiz realizes it though: "We blew it and we're very humbled by it and we learned from it and we're not going to do it again," Ruiz told financial analysts in New York Thursday.

Knowing that the management of this company is downright incapable of competing against AMD, wouldn't you think the board of directors would find a replacement as soon as possible? Think again: the board increased Ruiz's annual base salary by 7.4 percent to $1.124 million. And considering he made $12.8 million last year after stock awards were factored in, it looks like the only person who's laughing is Ruiz -- all the way to the bank.

Can someone please explain to me why a company that had $1.6 billion in revenue and lost $396 million in the last quarter should be increasing the pay of its chief decision-maker? To make matters worse, this company is competing against another that made almost $11 billion in revenue and enjoyed over $1 billion in profit.

Wow. Does it get any worse?

The moment of truth for AMD is upon us. Can the company turn it around and make a fight out of this battle with Intel or will it fold? Unfortunately, the answer may be the latter if it keeps its current cadre of executives in place to run it into the ground.

Suffice it to say, with the current group of managers at the helm, the AMD ship will sink faster than we once thought. It might be time to say goodbye.

Source

I really hope AMD can get their act together and bounce back. Intel needs competition. It is stiff competition that is consistently driving the processor prices down.

[a_k_s_h_a_y]

If AMD dies then its time for a great slow down in Personal Computing !! AMD fuels Intel Research Department and keeps a watch on Intel Processor's Price !!

I think IBM the big daddy should start to compete Intel
or maybe IBM should buy AMD and keep a check on Intel

[ssdivisiongermany1933]

really it will be bad if AMD dies out a death without giving a fight to Intel corporation

[Pathik]

I dont think AMD will/should die.
The spider platform holds much promise for it. also the upcoming AMD chipsets ll give more value for money then the intel ones.

[indranilmaulik]

may be it is good for consumers that amd continues to give the intel monopoly a good compitition, but the truth is intel's mammoth clout is devouring amd inside out.

[Ankur Gupta]

I am sure that is lull before the storm after which AMD will have good enough CPUs in the market to challenge the Intel's one.

[Hitboxx]

*Nod at Ankur..

This was the same scenario when Pentium-II was considered the almighty juggernaut, Intel kept building up on that through P3 and P4, and one day., AMD shunted the Athlon right in its face.

[a_k_s_h_a_y]

3 guys don't realize the importance of AMD being in market ... how come ??

if AMD runs in loss forever then they will have to shut down !!

[Indyan]

[The_Devil_Himself]

go amd go!!

their 38xx series of graphic cards is pretty good,all they need is just another good processor!

[Voldy]

AMD won't die we know that Its only AMD who makes Intel bitting their nails

[abhijit_reddevil]

It will be very bad if AMD goes out of the market. It is because of them, we have competition which translates to better processors at lower price. I still have the 3000+ 939 pin at my home machine in India and it still gives great service. I use it at overclocked speeds of 3500+ for over the last one year. AMD still has stakes over ATI. Let's see what they come up with.

[praka123]

first make a good comeback amd!stop researching on DRM`ing processors like intel does

[x3060]

i dont think AMD is gonna shut down . . i still have hopes for them

[Tanmay]

AMD Sux ! Actually not sucks...but they just can't keep up with Intel or even nVidia....surely the 38xx series is promosing...but then nVidia's again launching its 9xxx Series in Feb Which I reckon will once again pwn AMD-ATI !

[Tech_Wiz]

We need AMD

Lets ban nVidia and Intel Components for a year

[sandeepk]

AMD is really needed to have better competition. But they have bring some of the products which can compete with Intel ones.
But how will a company like AMD can do it agianst Intel which is 32 times bigger only time will tell!!

[csczero]

Never Give Up

[blackpearl]

AMDs existence is essential to keep the competition up and the prices down. If there were no Athlon I doubt there would have been any Core2duos.

However, on second thought, I think AMD had already done enough to "wake up the sleeping giant". Now they can just go back to oblivion.

[naveen_reloaded]

If AMD gets out of this race...begin to see stuck with quad core for atleast 2 years...

Intel surely will delay all the release,making enough profit...
AMD is the only reason why intel is always running faster and heavier..

What is wrong with AMD,they along with linux make one of the cheapest pc's around..may be they should put their head before intel and start thinking differently.

I want AMD to stay...
It will stay

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by a_k_s_h_a_y

If AMD dies then its time for a great slow down in Personal Computing !! AMD fuels Intel Research Department and keeps a watch on Intel Processor's Price !!

I think IBM the big daddy should start to compete Intel
or maybe IBM should buy AMD and keep a check on Intel

The day IBM buys AMD will be the day I die of Over Happiness.

Yes, AMD really needs to catch up with intel. Here are the things it needs to do, IMO:

1. L2 Cache

the reason many overlook AMD processors is because of its shortage of L2 cache compared to intel. Many who were attracted to AMD went away when they saw that high end AMD proccys came with only 2 MB L2, while budget intel also gave the same 2 MB. Though AMD's claim that the cache dows not affect their proccy's performance may be true, it still creates a feeling of badness among high-end shoppers.

2. ATi Cards:

ATi looses big time in front of nVidia. If intel buys nVidia, AMD is doomed for sure. They need to catch up fast. the card engineers need to work closely with the CPU engineers to deliver the best possible performance. AMD cards must also manage to beat nVidia in the pricing section, because today, 8800GT is set to rule.

3. Fusion:

Bring that goddamn thing out as fast as possible. Perhaps as a quad core model, with one unit for the OS, another for Physics, another for Graphics, and another for other apps. There should be ample cache in between to help them.

4. MotherBoards

AMD needs to manufacture dedicated mobos for their cards and procys. These must be cheap and OC ready. The RAM connections also can be improved.

5. Notebooks

By making better and power saving products for notebooks, atleast in that territory they can start dominating. Already, VIA's note book processors are making headlines.

6. Bundles

AMD can also concider bundling its card, procy, mobo and ram in a package similar to the MacMini, to deliver performance that has VFM. This will definitely attract upgraders and assemblers.

7. OpenGL

AMD seriously needs to cash in on the fact that OpenGL graphics have not yet been fully conquered by anyone. They need to optimise their cards for OpenGL, so that more gamers and UNIX users are attracted to AMD.

[Batistabomb]

I don't think so, it gives an excellent gaming for us