Intel Corp (INTC)

[SemiconEng]

AMD's flash unit--not an easy sell?

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-5670090.html
Advanced Micro Devices is spinning off its flash unit, but the company's timing could have been better, analysts said.

The most recent quarters, however, have been tough times. Spansion has reported two consecutive quarterly operating losses, has seen its market share drop significantly and is starting to experience pressure from Samsung and other companies as the different wings of the flash market--NAND and NOR--blur.

"They have got to make it more appealing than they have so far," said Kevin Krewell, editor-in-chief of the Microprocessor Report.

To top it off, semiconductors are out of favor in the IPO market at the moment, said Bill McLeod, co-director of capital markets at Thomas Weisel Partners, at a presentation at the VentureOne conference in San Francisco this week.

Splitting the company should buoy some of the investors who mostly look at AMD as a processor company, Krewell said. But they should remember the company's past, he added: "People forget that when the processor business was hurting, it was the flash business that kept them going."


Oh wait..... I forgot..... again. Silly me, that's just 1 Analyst.

Amazing