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AMD Withdraws From High-Density Server Business
An anonymous reader sends word that AMD has pulled out of the market for high-density servers. "AMD has pulled out of the market for high-density servers, reversing a strategy it embarked on three years ago with its acquisition of SeaMicro. AMD delivered the news Thursday as it announced financial results for the quarter. Its revenue slumped 26 percent from this time last year to $1.03 billion, and its net loss increased to $180 million, the company said. AMD paid $334 million to buy SeaMicro, which developed a new type of high-density server aimed at large-scale cloud and Internet service providers."
Looks like they're focusing on ARM chips:
"AMD still sees growth potential in the server market, but not from selling complete systems. It's returned its focus to x86 chips and to the development of its first ARM server processor, code-named Seattle."
8 core 64 bit ARM chips with GPU built in are fairly common and 10 core chips already announced (Mediatek), with 16-48 core vaguely hinted at for servers by other vendors. So if AMD plan on entering the ARM processor market they'd better get something special out and fast, and be prepared to stick at it and upgrade it and take the initial losses. Because they're unlikely to win companies over first time till they're confident AMD are in it for the long run and won't leave them hanging without a supplier.
On the other hand they could focus on x86 chips where Intel is already deep discounting at the low end, and likely will have to do that all the way up the range to compete.
AMD face a tough time either way.
AMD has played a losing strategy for as long as I have can remember. It is sad, but I remember my first few PCs were all AMD machines. I bought AMD on principle, and because they were price/performance leaders. They were even outright leaders for a while, but failed to capitalise on that. I think, however, that the whole Sledgehammer/Clawhammer phase has ultimately ruined them. Obviously, those processors were streets ahead of the Intel offerings at the time, but it was always a long term losing strategy, in particular if they were depending on selling CPUs to make money. Their obsession with OEM deals also hurt them.
AMD could have done one of a few things, in my opinion, to reinvent themselves.
- They could have become a whole-hog PC builder, using their own chips and pricing their laptops and desktops accordingly.
- When Android happened, AMD, without as much baggage as Intel, could have produced an Android phone and Android tablets, and gone to market with that, using their chip making expertise to develop offerings that would have been more competitive than Qualcomm, Samsung etc.
AMD was obsessed with being a mini Intel, which was never going to work out for them.
AMD should have taken a page out of Apple's playbook. At best, they might be taken over by a Chinese company, otherwise they are doomed to irrelevance.