After having to delay the final vote earlier this month due to a lack of participation (d'oh!), AMD has dotted the final 'i' in its attempt to
spin off semiconductor manufacturing. Said company, along with the Advanced Technology Investment Company, have now secured the final approval necessary to create The Foundry Company. Stockholder approval was the only remaining hurdle to be jumped, and the joint venture transaction is expected to fully close by March 2nd of this year. By the numbers, AMD stockholders approved a proposal to issue 58 million shares of its common stock along with warrants to purchase 35 million shares of its common stock and 35 million shares of the company's common stock upon exercise of those warrants to an affiliate of the Mubadala Development Company PJSC (perplexing, we know). Now, let's see if AMD can keep up with Intel's own
$7 billion investment.
posted February 19th 2009 10:34AM
What does this mean for us?
They now have twice as many ways to blame the delays in chip release.
AMD Design: "The design was perfect, the fabrication screwed it up."
AMD fab: "It went bad in the design phase, we just fabricated what they told us to."
Lower CPU prices because AMD will be around for a little longer.
how many people buy AMD ?
i mean i did it instead of Intel
I did, but not because I wanted to support AMD or anything - simply because a Pentium III system crapped out on me and you couldn't build anything close to performance of an X2 5000+ w/ onboard HD 2100 and a few other components that were platform independent for under $250 after rebates + taxes. AMD may not be the greatest performer, but you can't beat their bang per buck in the low end.
I don't know about mainstream users, but about 1/3 of people who use Steam (gamers mostly) have AMD processors, myself included. I don't know how that translates to the rest of the computer world though.
when i built my last computer in 2006, AMD was the name of the game when it came to performance (i'm a gamer). however, it seems as if intel's caught up. i built several comps between '03 and '06, and they were all AMD. if i was to jump back into the game, i'd probably consider Intel.
I really don't understand the death grip intel has over the market. The vast majority of computers sold (offices, education, home use) do not require and pittance of performance. Processors are so powerful nowadays that the "low end" is more than functional for the majority of situations. AMD *should* still rule this low end market with their great performance per buck per watt. The only place intel should hold a lead is in the upper/enthusiast market for gaming/video editing. But intel has lasered "Intel Inside" into everyone's brain to they point that they think if it doesnt have intel, its not good enough. My friend who works at Best Buy says all the time that people will chose Intel over cheaper, equally powered AMD systems, even after being told as such!
Remember the days, not all THAT long ago when AMD produced better and cheaper chips than Intel? What happened? does this new structure mean that they will be able to catch up again and perhaps even be on top once again?
it bought ati on loans and stocks, and cant pay back. without money they cant do R&D
intel, on the otherhand, has shit load of money and literally wipe their ass with money, they spend more money on R&D and can produce better performance chips faster
in simple words this means that AMD has an outside chance to negate the manufacturing advantage of Intel in a few years With node gap slowly removed, the fight will be on design and consumer acceptance.. AMD with its less lofty profit targets will keep the fight alive and may possibly gain back some share provided it designs better.
ahh.. forgot to add...
ofcourse it boils down to how many years
This is excellent news. I live in upstate New York, and this will pave the way for a new chip fab plant in the area. Can't wait
Which chip is shown in the photo?
-jp
I believe it's just a stock photo that is used with most AMD stories, but if I had to take a guess.. I would say a quad core Phenom something-or-other (probably 9950). That pic was in use before the Phenom II so that's why it makes me think it's a Phenom.
-White
Thanks dudes, looks like you're right:
img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/02/2-19-09-amd-phenom-die.jpg"
-jp
@ Jake
If it's and AMD chip then it's a Phenom, you can clearly see the 4 cores
i have trust in amd :]
AMD spinoff to fabricate their own semi-conductors, huh? Owning your own Foundry helps turnaround time - this should help the pendulum swing back the other way.
I'm local to where this plant is being built and the level of ignorant speculation is down right outlandish. The economy has been so bad here for years that a McDonalds opening up generates buzz.
From a local perspective, this will not save the collapsing housing market here.