Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[bobs10]

Well, a technology lead will only take you so far.

From my point of view AMD has gone about tackling the problem correctly. They took the technical high ground with the k8 architecture, and are now solving the production problems with fab36 and the IBM technology alliance. Sales are a trailing indicator happening only when all the precursors are in place. In that vein, AMD is closer to getting its' ducks in order than it has ever been.

INTC can't be underestimated, it still has all that money and inertia, plus a marketing group that's second to no one. However, even a company like INTC can only live off its' past history for so long. Eventually every dog must hunt and so far INTC hasn't shown that it can produce anything but Chihuahuas.

Again, from my point of view, one of the biggest things to happen on the sales front was the Addition of Sun as an AMD only customer. Not so much because I expect SUN to sell tons of Opterons, but because, just by their commitment, they forced the other big players to take AMD seriously. Up until the Sun announcement IBM's and HP's commitments to AMD were at best lukewarm. Since Sun though we have seen a much broader commitment by both IBM and HP, and clearly DELL is very worried that it didn't get an invite to the party. Remember, these are very big companies that do things at a snails pace. The real results of the change of heart by HP/IBM are still a ways off.

As far as general acceptance of A64, that’s an evolution problem that WXP64 professional will help. While A64 sales may have not taken off the way we would have liked, that picture is going to improve a lot going forward just because INTC is now on board.

When looking at AMD a 6-month view is a lot more appropriate than the day to day view that dominates much of what is posted on the boards. AMD is doing just fine, if not great, as yet. Better still, with everything falling in place the future is looking more assured all the time.