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Well yes, but while AMD has great technology, their success as a CPU maker has always relied on the success of the x86 platform. The assumption is x86 will rem

Well yes, but while AMD has great technology, their success as a CPU maker has always relied on the success of the x86 platform. The assumption is x86 will remain competitive for years to come, but that seems a lot less clear now. It feels like what ARM is doing right now is quite similar to what x86 did to mini computers and mainframes. ARM has become a competitive pressure that will prevent Intel and AMD from cashing in on that platform the way they have in the past. Chromebooks and the iPad have been nibbling at the low end for a few years now. Now Apple's M1 is taking a big chunk out of Intel's lucrative ultrabook market. Microsoft and other OEMs are going to start pushing harder on ARM just to stay competitive. Though being the sole licensee of x86, maybe AMD can pull a weird rabbit out of their hat.

Alupis 6y ago
AMD also has ARM irons in the fire[1]. [1] https://www.amd.com/en/amd-opteron-a1100 https://www.amd.com/en/amd-opteron-a1100
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  I didn't realize AMD had ARM CPUs. I was trying to hint that AMD might make some weird hybrid x86/ ARM beast that could have the advantages of ARM much of the time, but could run x86 native. I'm not sure that's even possible. AMD might do well in a post x86 world. It's just a broader playing field.
  - Alupis 6y ago
    That would indeed be an interesting setup, kind of like the big.LITTLE configuration popular on a lot of high-end ARM processors. I'm sure it could be done... but probably would have some interesting effects on software (unless you do full x86 emulation on the ARM cores... but then what's the point). It's far more likely we'll start seeing ARM processors with hundreds or thousands of cores in the server market first. These would be particularly interesting to virtual server providers like Amazon, Google, Digital Ocean and others.
  - owowow 6y ago
    AMD stopped building these in 2016 and Amazon hired away most of the AMD team that worked on this chip.
- perfopt 6y ago
  This was several years ago. They never really launched their ARM line. I believe they no longer have an ARM license. They certainly dont have a product ARM line

Alupis 6y ago

AMD also has ARM irons in the fire[1]. [1] https://www.amd.com/en/amd-opteron-a1100 https://www.amd.com/en/amd-opteron-a1100

ogre_codes 6y ago
I didn't realize AMD had ARM CPUs. I was trying to hint that AMD might make some weird hybrid x86/ ARM beast that could have the advantages of ARM much of the time, but could run x86 native. I'm not sure that's even possible. AMD might do well in a post x86 world. It's just a broader playing field.
- Alupis 6y ago
  That would indeed be an interesting setup, kind of like the big.LITTLE configuration popular on a lot of high-end ARM processors. I'm sure it could be done... but probably would have some interesting effects on software (unless you do full x86 emulation on the ARM cores... but then what's the point). It's far more likely we'll start seeing ARM processors with hundreds or thousands of cores in the server market first. These would be particularly interesting to virtual server providers like Amazon, Google, Digital Ocean and others.
- owowow 6y ago
  AMD stopped building these in 2016 and Amazon hired away most of the AMD team that worked on this chip.
perfopt 6y ago
This was several years ago. They never really launched their ARM line. I believe they no longer have an ARM license. They certainly dont have a product ARM line