AMD and ATI get their union blessed by the suits

Those two little chip-making lovebirds just passed the last major regulatory hurdles in the US, Canada and Germany on their way to becoming one under the AMD roof. Yesterday marked the end of the waiting period required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, and anti-trust stuff went off without a hitch in Canada and Germany as well. Now all AMD and ATI are waiting on is for ATI's shareholder meeting on October 13th to give a final go-ahead, along with a few other minor court and regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to be completed during ATI's first fiscal quarter of 2007, which ends November 30, 2006. Most reports are looking like ATI will hold onto its brand name for its own product line, and that some of the first order of business will be prepping integrated graphics chips to put AMD on better footing in the budget PC and compact laptop fields.

[Via Ars Technica]

[duerra @ Sep 8th 2006 10:32AM]

I think their first order of business is to fire anybody that has made drivers for ATI in the last 5 years and replace them with qualified engineers. To date, all I have ever purchased is ATI's graphics cards, but after recent escapades and antagonizing driver issues, I have had my fill. It's NVIDIA for me until ATI gets their act together.

[Brian Spence @ Sep 8th 2006 11:52AM]

Yeah, we need these guys to join up because 4 or 5 major tech manufacturers was just one too many...

[Kevin H @ Sep 8th 2006 12:07PM]

Just wanted to point out the oddness of an Oct 13 shareholders meeting. Friday Oct 13... Friday the 13th
:o

[Dirk @ Sep 8th 2006 12:35PM]

So, will the new joint company just mish-mash the acronyms to create a company called "DAAMiT"?

[asurroca @ Sep 8th 2006 12:44PM]

Awesome. I love AMD and I love ATI, so nothing but good news could come from this union (for AMD/ATI fans, anyway). Seriously, though, to the first poster, I agree. ATI drivers (and software) are shit.

[xero @ Sep 8th 2006 12:51PM]

They should concentrate on integrating the mobile market in the next year. Have amd's alchemy and geode low-power cpus with new mobile ati GPUs, that would own all cellphones and psps :-P

[Interesting @ Sep 8th 2006 1:42PM]

Kudos to Dirk for that one :)

[Jounin @ Sep 8th 2006 2:09PM]

What I want to see from this merger is a power-efficient GPU. With CPUs now pushing for better performance/watt ratios while still increasing the performance, why in the world are we still talking about graphic cards that basically require their own plugs to the wall outlet? With access to AMD's fabs and solid efficiency know-how, ATI no longer has an excuse to make such power hungry and wasteful graphic cards.

To nVidia and ATI, I enjoy a pretty PC game as much as the next gamer, but have you two ever thought about your impact to global warming?

[Keaton @ Sep 9th 2006 4:31AM]

I agree with Jounin...

We need a decent alternative to the Intel GMA 950... It would be really nice if you could go shopping for a laptop and by choosing integrated graphics you could sleep tight in the knowledge that you were making a good decsion. I hate that the only energy effecient integrated graphics solution SUCKS when compared with an energy hogging dedicated GPU...

Well there's my rant.

http://thesoggycow.phpnet.us

[tiuk @ Sep 9th 2006 4:23PM]

I'm not sure I like this, I've been using AMD + nvidia for five years and couldn't be happier.

[Seven @ Sep 9th 2006 9:41PM]

AMD + ATI FOR LIFE :)