rupert
AMD to set up Thai subsidiary
Praise for Govt's ICT PC project
Tony Waltham
AMD is likely to establish a Thailand subsidiary to market its microprocessors here very soon and has already begun looking for staff, according to AMD's Asia Pacific director of marketing, Sam Rogan, who was speaking on the first anniversary of the introduction of AMD's Opteron 64-bit server processor last week.
He added that he hoped that by doing so, AMD would offer a better service and would enjoy better communications with the Thai Government "by having Thais based in Thailand" who were working for the company, which has its head office in Sunnyvale, California and production as well as test facilities in Europe and Asia.
"There is a very high probability that within the near future AMD will have an office in Thailand," he said.
The Thailand market was strong, and in South Asia Thailand was clearly leading the way in terms of technology adoption, Mr Rogan said, praising the ICT Ministry's budget PC project. "The only problem was that this was not spec'd to support AMD," he added.
But he noted that this had been because AMD had not been involved in drawing up the specifications and, as a result, AMD had chosen to partner with Atec Computer, a leading Thai PC manufacturer, which was doing something very similar, he said.
"We love Thailand's ICT project," he said, adding that it was visionary and now countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam, along with the Organisation for Islamic Countries, were doing something very similar.
"But we think that it needs to be fair enough to include AMD," Mr Rogan added.
At an event to mark the first year of the AMD Opteron 64-bit processor here last week, Mr Rogan also indicated that AMD would introduce a "value brand" of 64-bit processor very soon. He said that early adopters in the field of computer gaming had been a big driver for 64-bit processors on the desktop.
Mr Rogan suggested that when Microsoft introduces its 64-bit version of Windows XP here in the second half of this year, there would be a lot more 64-bit applications. This would allow AMD to differentiate its offering from that of Intel, he said.
He said that AMD's 64-bit Mobile Athlon, its Athlon64 for the desktop and Opteron 64-bit server processors would enable pervasive benefits across enterprises by allowing for a standard platform and providing a migration path to 64-bit computing.
He also pointed out how the AMD64's "on board' technology presented an innovative approach to 64-bit computing.
AMD's 64-bit computing solutions had been revolutionary a year ago, he said, but now they were evolutionary, with the company winning more partners over, with three of the four large systems suppliers _ IBM, Sun Microsystems and HP _ now providing high-end systems with AMD 64-bit Opteron.
Asked about Dell, Mr Rogan said that AMD would have to take more market share and put that company in the position where it would need to be able to offer an AMD processor option to avoid losing market share.
The move absolutely makes sense. Trying to make inroads in Asian countries needs locals. AMD has done this successfully in China already.
K.
Facts are irrelevant to the emotional brain
