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The last time this conversation came up, a slew of people called it a strategic mistake for AMD. I'm actually willing to bet it's the opposite (disclosure: I'm
by eganist 9y ago
The last time this conversation came up, a slew of people called it a strategic mistake for AMD. I'm actually willing to bet it's the opposite (disclosure: I'm long AMD).
The last time AMD got into a fight with Intel, Intel pulled out all the stops. The only relief AMD got--quite a ways down the road--was in the form of damages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Micro_Devices,_Inc._v._Intel_Corp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Micro_Devices,_Inc._v....
Something tells me AMD decided to make strange bedfellows this time around against a common growing threat in multiple spaces, to include graphics as well as machine learning (nVidia). It's one agreement, but for AMD, it's both a revenue source as well as a foot in the door for potential collaborative efforts which could give it some stability as it broadens its offerings and looks at new avenues for value creation in the face of headwinds such as resistance in further transistor shrinkage.
- hdheiej88 9y agoI’ve been wondering if it has to do with ATIs amdgpu opensour e driver work Intel announced new performance graphics parts on the way, they’ll be learning a lot from AMD and seems reasonable to say they’ll be leaning on amdgpu for these parts If they’re quietly teaming up to support an open modern video driver architecture, that would help put pressure on nVidia. While historically the better performer, nVidia drivers can be fickle.
- thomastjeffery 9y agos/ATI/AMD/ ATI has been dead for 7 years, and part of AMD for 11.
- rangibaby 9y agoI stil call it ATI by accident because that’s what it was during my formative years (middle school). Calling it “AMD” feels weird to me. It’s hard for people to learn a new word for something they already know.
- DiabloD3 9y agoDo what I do, I call AMD CPUs "AMD", but AMD GPUs "Radeon"; but never call Nvidia GeForces "GeForces", instead just referring to them as Nvidia. So, it isn't unusual for me to say "Intel", "AMD", "Radeon", "Nvidia" during the course of a conversation. AMD ended up legitimizing what I do when they split Radeon off as its own company (ala HTX.org and GloFo).
- amaranth 9y agoThey didn't make Radeon into its own company, in fact there are rumors Raja Koduri was butting heads with leadership over a desire to do just that. They split it into a separate group within the company just that's just playing with the org chart to change who you report to.
- briffle 9y agoI feel the same way about calling Star Wars "Disney"
- rangibaby 9y agoI think the real elephant in the room is ARM. iPad Pro has the performance of (at least) a toaster “real” laptop. Sure Apple is expensive but very soon you are going to see cheap and actually good ARM PCs. That can’t be good for either Intel or AMD.
- monkmartinez 9y agoI, for one, can't wait. I am not convinced that it is going to be Apple, but I do believe ARM or something like it will replace my Intel laptop.
- emdowling 9y agoHow much more convincing do you need that it will be Apple? No one comes close to them in ARM performance. The iPad Pro’s processor is so overpowered compared to the software you can run on it, it’s incredible that we don’t have ARM MacBooks already.
- Kurtz79 9y agoEven if they make MacOS ARM-compatible, its users will be left with tons of applications that won't work anymore on an ARM-based architecture. Considering that Apple does not compete on price, making developers and users unhappy to save on costs does not seem to me a very Apple-like move. Seeing iOS get more and more desktop features in due time is much more likely, IMHO.
- gruturo 9y agoApple is the one company in the world which pulled off this sort of migration - twice - without leaving users in the cold. First, 68k to PPC, then PPC to Intel. Both times they included the ability to run binaries from the previous architecture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_68k_emulator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_68k_emulator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_(software)
- andy_ppp 9y agoSo Intel are going to get a better GPU than they can currently design in their integrated parts, while at the same time selling more CPUs and be given time to restart their GPU design team? I just don’t get how this doesn’t lead to huge litigation when in two years Intel has a competitive GPU and tells AMD to do one. AMD will then complain about their GPU technology being stolen but I’d bet a judge would possibly be convinced it’s their own fault. Instead a better scenario; AMD embedded parts that are millions of miles ahead in gfx and close in CPU performance for most task leads to loads of design wins for Ryzen + AMD GPU. So yes I do think this is a terrible idea. Why you think Intel aren’t busting a gut to compete (this deal or not) you are wrong; they’ve already lowered prices and will move away from AMD pretty fast in IPC over the next two years.
- philjohn 9y agoThat's what I felt when I first heard the news ... then Raja jumped ship to Intel to head up a discrete GPU business, so I think Intel view this as more of a stop-gap "necessary evil" and will only entertain it for a limited time. That's assuming Raja still has the chops to compete at the top table, something his latest tenure at AMD would call into doubt ...
- visarga 9y agoBoth Intel and AMD are pretty meh when it comes to deep learning. I hope their partnership will give us more options, but I'm not sure they can deliver.
- hishnash 9y agoIM not sure its that much of bedfellows, with this they are not sharing their IP with Intel, these GPUs are discrete chips that AMD is just selling to Intel who is then selling them alongside their CPUs on the same package. it's not like AMDs GPU designs are going shared with Intel. Nor are they giving up control of fabrication.