Will AMD Cease to Exist?

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idmanotic

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Cause I read that Samsung is trying to acquire AMD. If Samsung did manage to acquire AMD, will AMD cease to exist? I am a bit worried because I have been a long time fan of AMD esp. their GPUs (since 9800Pro days). I don't want to switch to Nvidia and definitely do not want Nvidia to dominate the GPU industry.
 
AMD was not making discrete GPUs during the 9800Pro days. The ATI aquisation was not until 2006.
 
Say what? Even if Samsung did indeed aquire AMD, theres no way they would just diffuse everything, thats just retarded.

If anything, Samsung would invest and improve upon all AMD products.
 
This rumor has about as much merit as Intel gobbling up Nvidia. Just wait and see what happens....
 
Is Samsung acquiring AMD meant to be a good thing or not? It might actually help them improve the quality of their products if that is the case, and if Samsung engineers work together with AMD they might actually bring out a CPU that matches Intel in performance, or am I incorrect?
 
Maybe. Maybe we all will cease to exist.

/world ending event.
 
Just rumors likely based on an article/opinion written 4-6 mths ago. That's how the tech industry seems to work in recent years.
 
Probably won't happen unless Samsung wants to lose market share. Nvidia relies on Samsung for VRAM and probably other solutions as well. Apple would no longer use Radeon in their products as well due to the competition in mobile. GSync would never be on Samsung displays. (Not sure if it is already)
 
Rvenger said:
Probably won't happen unless Samsung wants to lose market share. Nvidia relies on Samsung for VRAM and probably other solutions as well. Apple would no longer use Radeon in their products as well due to the competition in mobile. GSync would never be on Samsung displays. (Not sure if it is already)
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That makes sense from a personal view point, but from a business one it doesn't. Apple currently uses Samsung to make their SoCs, as well as for displays. The additon of AMD to the fold would have zero effect on their relationship. Similar for nvidia, their decision to use Samsung is based on their need for access to advanced nodes, that won't change. TSMC hasn't been cutting it, so unless nvidia is willing to rely solely on tsmc, then they will do business with Samsung going forward.
 
I do not believe AMD's licensing agreements with Intel over x86 and related technologies transfer with a sale. There might be some legal loopholes to that though..

There is some merit to the rumors though.

1. Samsung + AMD are both heavily staffed in similar locations (Austin and Silicon Valley)
2. Samsung is believed to be having issues creating arm server chips. AMD has server background/history
3. Samsung doesn't have any gpu background. They use the arm mali chips. Picking up that expertise could be beneficial
4. x86 part of AMD's business is sinking... maybe the cross licensing is unneeded?

Anyways, those are all my opinions. I have no insider knowledge of either company. If said rumor did happen and samsung to keep the x86 licensing with Intel it would be a big win. AMD would get better fab access and Samsung could go toe to toe with Intel on the fab side. They are both the only ones on 14nm now. That would take AMD making a decent architecture though... Either way that would take years to have any impact. Lead time on these APUs is very long. I'm guessing in the 3-5 year range.
 
I think AMD would "cease to exist" probably to the same extent that ATI now no longer exists.

I see a lot of positives from Samsung acquiring AMD, maybe even giving AMD the boost it needs to finally start to compete with Intel. My main concern would be seeing yet another American company go away.
 
The articles appear to just be rehashing, as others have said, a long standing rumor.

Samsung, or any entity, can not buy more than 49% of AMD and retain x86. Intel would have to approve of the merger and allow the cross license to remain. I don't see a logical reason Intel would grant a potential competitor like Samsung access to x86.

If AMD violates the license by more than 49% being acquired then Intel retains AMD64 for the remainder of the original cross license. Which has no end date.

The previous lawsuit of $1.25B had Intel accusing AMD of breach for selling GF. That didn't violate the termination of cause section. AMD can sell divisions, it cannot be purchased (50%+) or controlled by a outside party.

I personally would love if AMD finally got purchased and had real management installed. Frankly AMD's upper level management (CPU/GPU side) for the most part is a joke.

After reading the cross license multiple times I don't see it happening. Which is a shame, AMD needs a break and needs the cash to once again put Intel on their heels. I would love to not spend the amount I do on CPU's but Intel is still the king and names the price.
 
At this rate, AMD will cease to exist but it has nothing to do with a Samsung buyout that will never happen.
 
yeah, i had an ATI branded 9800 pro AIW.

I think i still have the ATI Branded remote floating around somewhere...
 
I also had a Hercules 9800 Pro back then. It was one of the best looking 9800 Pro cards. Lover the LED fan.
 
No I do not think AMD will cease to exist. They may not be in a great shape financially, but they do have valuable know-how especially in graphics hardware.

But I can see the company shifting it's priorities towards SoC, making chips for compact low power solutions. In fact, I assume that's the reason why AMD bought ATI as they needed a graphic component, and why they are the one supplying the SoC for consoles.

I don't know if Samsung is planning to buy them, I assume it's all just rumors at the moment. But if Samsung does, it wouldn't surprise me, because I think that may be where AMD's strengths are, in low power SoC hardware.
 
idmanotic said:
Cause I read that Samsung is trying to acquire AMD.
Click to expand...
That's only a rumor, uncorroborated by any other source. These types of rumors happen all the time and nothing lends any more credibility to this one than the many others in the past.

Long term, it's almost certain that AMD will have its various pieces acquired/sold off. But who knows it if that will be in 1-2 years or 5+ years? It all depends on how AMD executes in the interim.
 
Honestly, if Samsung was buying AMD, it'd be for one thing. Patent portfolio.

The rest of the company is essentially worthless to them and they'd probably spin portions off.

Not sure how well the CPU/GPU divisions would make out though.
 
Appreciate why AMD is in its condition. Appreciate why Samsung (or some similar company) may take interest.

Current conditions started years ago with a problem called high K materials. Gates on CMOS transistors were down to three atoms thick. AMD and Intel processors got hot due to so much electrical leakage through that glass.

Nobody could make high K-materials work. IBM thought they had it. Went into production. The material pealed off its semiconductors.

Intel does not examine spread sheets. Intel measured progress in Moore's law. Chips in development for sale in four some years did not meet Moore's law. So Ortelli had to make a decision. Intel could not make hafnium work. But hafnium was the only viable solution that Intel had. So Ortelli committed Intel, more than two years earlier, to a process that only product oriented managers would risk. If hafnium did not work, then Intel had no new processors two years later. But great companies periodically risk the company on innovations (as Boeing did with the B-17, 747, and Dreamliner).

The risk paid off. Intel was doing smaller and faster transistors than anyone else. Intel processors were also cooler.

AMD took a business school approach. They did what was safer according to spread sheets. So AMD only had processors that sold at reduced profits. AMD engineers played catchup on what became an industry standard solution.

AMD needs expertise in latest semiconductor manufacturing techniques. Samsung has it. Samsung has also forced many Japanese semiconductor companies out of that business. Samsung might provide semiconductor technological know how that AMD so desperately needs to catchup.

Appreciate why Intel leapfrogged. Their management comes from how the work gets done - not from business schools. So management could accurately consider the risk. And could empower an Intel crown jewel - its semiconductor manufacturing expertise. AMD's managemenet could not.
 
it makes u think... are american companies so screw they need people from other countries to fix them?
 
AMD is already partly owned by some middle east company. It's only American in name.
 
Its the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi governement, and they olny own 8.4%. They own most of GloFo however.

The largest shareholder is actually the Vanguard Group.

So no, its not foreign owned and still an american corp in all respects.
 
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No, Samsung will buy them and at least use the brand or experience to make their own products (ie mobile phones) better.
 
"Samsung Galaxy S7, now powered by the blazing fast SAMDsung Radeon 290M." Battery life: 1 hour.
 
AndreRio said:
it makes u think... are american companies so screw they need people from other countries to fix them?
Click to expand...
Apparently you have not yet learned the history of America. 40% of American businesses are started by immigrants. The most productive Americans are the third generation immigrants. You would think most Nobel prize winners came from Stamford or Harvard. Reality. Largest numbers come from places such as City College of NY. Because some of America's greatest innovators were immigrants.

The Silicon Valley discusses ICs. Once that was Integrated Circuits. Now it is the restriction on immigrants imposed by those whose politics include hate. These extremists have so restricted immigration that the Silicon Valley talks about ICs - Indian and Chinese students and immigrants.

Understand why AMD got its act together. Early AMD processors (ie K-3) were crap. AMD bought an East Asian company that designed processors. But did something that finally created a competitive AMD CPU. They kept all engineers in that acquisition separated from AMDs business school trained management. Therefore innovation could happen that let to serious competition to Intel's P-4 processors.

HP has pictures that demonstrate same. The group working on development next generation inkjet printers had their entire work area surrounded by a rope. With signs that read "No Management Area".

Anyone who has any accurate business school training knows both facts from history and business. Immigrants are essential to a nation that innovates. And management is a greatest threat to innovation and the resulting commercial successes. The reason AMD once made processors superior to Intel's is a famous story. The reason why Intel was able to rally and recover from threats from Zilog, Motorola 68000, Power PC, and AMD are also a story of what is required to have innovation.
 
westom said:
Apparently you have not yet learned the history of America. 40% of American businesses are started by immigrants. The most productive Americans are the third generation immigrants. You would think most Nobel prize winners came from Stamford or Harvard. Reality. Largest numbers come from places such as City College of NY. Because some of America's greatest innovators were immigrants.

The Silicon Valley discusses ICs. Once that was Integrated Circuits. Now it is the restriction on immigrants imposed by those whose politics include hate. These extremists have so restricted immigration that the Silicon Valley talks about ICs - Indian and Chinese students and immigrants.

Understand why AMD got its act together. Early AMD processors (ie K-3) were crap. AMD bought an East Asian company that designed processors. But did something that finally created a competitive AMD CPU. They kept all engineers in that acquisition separated from AMDs business school trained management. Therefore innovation could happen that let to serious competition to Intel's P-4 processors.

HP has pictures that demonstrate same. The group working on development next generation inkjet printers had their entire work area surrounded by a rope. With signs that read "No Management Area".

Anyone who has any accurate business school training knows both facts from history and business. Immigrants are essential to a nation that innovates. And management is a greatest threat to innovation and the resulting commercial successes. The reason AMD once made processors superior to Intel's is a famous story. The reason why Intel was able to rally and recover from threats from Zilog, Motorola 68000, Power PC, and AMD are also a story of what is required to have innovation.
Click to expand...

Immigrants permanently immigrate to the country they go too. (In this case, the USA. :) ) Problem: they are not immigrating mostly at all though, are they?
 
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