amd completely missed the boat by not getting into mobile market

[sm625]

AMD could easily have gone the route imagination tech did in mobile. License out their IP and rake in huge profits, without ever having to design and market an actual SoC.

 

[CHADBOGA]

Someone should buy out AMD and make billions out of it.

What is going to enable any purchaser to make billions out of it?

 

[ClockHound]

What is going to enable any purchaser to make billions out of it?

Simples. Invest trillions. Lots of them. ^_^

 

[Rezist]

The only real success stories in mobile are Qualcomm, Samsung, and Apple. I'm pretty sure Qualcomm gets a decent check from modem IP patents as well. If any of the smaller android phone manufacturers that use Qualcomm (HTC/LG/Google/BB..kind of) go bust I could easily see only Apple and Samsung surviving.

Intel and nVidia with there massive budgets are failing hard.

 

[Idontcare]

Meh, they didn't have a competitive ARM CPU design or a competitive modem- and they didn't have the money to go buy a modem company, like NVidia and Intel did (to mixed results). If they had tried to compete on GPU alone they would have done about as well as NVidia... Qualcomm didn't succeed because of the GPU, it succeeded because of the GPU, CPU and modem combined.

This.

And I think folks underestimate just how thinly stretched AMD's R&D was at the time. So many pots they had to stir all at the same time.

In their environment they had to identify the higher risk projects and cut bait while they could still find a buyer for the program. Not even Intel had their eye on the ball when Apple came knocking on the door. It just wasn't perceived as a key area for either AMD or Intel to divest their R&D efforts into.

 

[NTMBK]

If any of the smaller android phone manufacturers that use Qualcomm (HTC/LG/Google/BB..kind of) go bust I could easily see only Apple and Samsung surviving.

Even though Samsung phones are a massive chunk of the market, Samsung SoCs aren't. They use tons of Snapdragon chips all over their lineup. And even Apple uses Qualcomm modems.

Their modem tech is a really strong moat. All other ARM SoC manufacturers are probably nervously keeping an eye on Mediatek and Rockchip, because when this market becomes commoditised they are going to just clean up. The tablet market is going to start looking a whole lot like the laptop market, I suspect; razor thin margins, and not a whole lot of profit. Except this time there is no x86 lock in, so they can run to the cheapest Chinese and Taiwanese chip manufacturers to get their budget silicon.

 

[R0H1T]

Even though Samsung phones are a massive chunk of the market, Samsung SoCs aren't. They use tons of Snapdragon chips all over their lineup. And even Apple uses Qualcomm modems.

Their modem tech is a really strong moat. All other ARM SoC manufacturers are probably nervously keeping an eye on Mediatek and Rockchip, because when this market becomes commoditised they are going to just clean up. The tablet market is going to start looking a whole lot like the laptop market, I suspect; razor thin margins, and not a whole lot of profit. Except this time there is no x86 lock in, so they can run to the cheapest Chinese and Taiwanese chip manufacturers to get their budget silicon.

It's already here ~
www.bbc.com/news/business-30677439

Xiaomi will very likely exceed Apple as the second largest smartphone maker, behind Samsung, & the third largest tablet manufacturer sometime this year. You won't believe how dirt cheap their products are & how successful their viral marketing/blitzkrieg tactics have been.

 

[NTMBK]

It's already here ~
www.bbc.com/news/business-30677439

Xiaomi will very likely exceed Apple as the second largest smartphone maker, behind Samsung, & the third largest tablet manufacturer sometime this year. You won't believe how dirt cheap their products are & how successful their viral marketing/blitzkrieg tactics have been.

And of course this is at the cost of their profit margin: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/15/us-xiaomi-financials-idUSKBN0JT07Y20141215

 

[R0H1T]

And of course this is at the cost of their profit margin: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/15/us-xiaomi-financials-idUSKBN0JT07Y20141215

The thing is I expect a lot of small(er) phone makers to go bankrupt first before Xiaomi starts either raising their prices or shifts (permanently?) to the likes of Mediatek, even for their high end phones. Like I said earlier it's a race to the bottom, not unlike how OPEC is trying to down US shale oil producers

 

[NTMBK]

The thing is I expect a lot of small(er) phone makers to go bankrupt first before Xiaomi starts either raising their prices or shifts (permanently?) to the likes of Mediatek, even for their high end phones. Like I said earlier it's a race to the bottom, not unlike how OPEC is trying to down US shale oil producers

Uh oh, don't get us started on the shale oil again

Yeah, definitely agree. They just got another big fat pile of venture capitalist money, so they can probably keep undercutting their rivals for a few more years.

 

[Erenhardt]

LOL. Someone should really look into this "deny competitor" practice.
There are regulations (at least in my country) that forbid selling a product below the costs.
If someone have enough $ they can make any company go bankrupt.
While at the first glance contra-revenue is quite cool from consumer point of view... Clearing the market to gain monopoly is quite anti-consumer in the long run.

 

[Abwx]

While at the first glance contra-revenue is quite cool from consumer point of view... Clearing the market to gain monopoly is quite anti-consumer in the long run.

Not even cool on the consumer front since people are forced to buy items that use an inferior chip, that s what happen when a monopoly has not the technological leading edge, they force the market to buy their crappy products thanks to thoses despicable practices..

In the waiting some Mullins are used in mini PCs.

http://techreport.com/news/27644/quad-core-amd-soc-squeezes-into-pocketable-mini-pc

 

[Idontcare]

Not even cool on the consumer front since people are forced to buy items that use an inferior chip...

I was once forced to buy an item that used an inferior chip, salesman had a gun to my head and everything

 

[Abwx]

I was once forced to buy an item that used an inferior chip, salesman had a gun to my head and everything

IDC , you can do better than straws, dont you.??.

You know perfectly well that if a consumer need a product he will buy what is available, so why using such poor arguments..?.

You also know that if there s two competing solutions he will try to know wich is the more capable, in this case Intel knew that their competitor would beat them hands down and that consumers would set for Mullins based items, hence the contra revenue, no more competition and a consumer forced to buy an Intel based "solution", now you can always argue that he would had settled for an Intel based device anyway...

 

[Idontcare]

IDC , you can do better than straws, dont you.??.

You know perfectly well that if a consumer need a product he will buy what is available, so why using such poor arguments..?.

You also know that if there s two competing solutions he will try to know wich is the more capable, in this case Intel knew that their competitor would beat them hands down and that consumers would set for Mullins based items, hence the contra revenue, no more competition and a consumer forced to buy an Intel based "solution", now you can always argue that he would had settled for an Intel based device anyway...

Consumers are neither forced nor need to buy the types of products we are discussing here.

Consumers are, however, compelled by marketing and their own personal desire (wants) to buy the types of products under discussion here.

Let's not conflate the two.

The last time I was personally forced to do anything it was to eat soap while being held down by my parents for having said the word "ass" as a child. Was told I had a dirty mouth and it needed to be cleaned. Yeah no one does that these days, but then again no one forces consumers to buy anything either. So let's just agree that your word choice was perhaps not the best and move on.

 

[Abwx]

Consumers are neither forced nor need to buy the types of products we are discussing here.

Consumers are, however, compelled by marketing and their own personal desire (wants) to buy the types of products under discussion here.

Let's not conflate the two.

The last time I was personally forced to do anything it was to eat soap while being held down by my parents for having said the word "ass" as a child. Was told I had a dirty mouth and it needed to be cleaned. Yeah no one does that these days, but then again no one forces consumers to buy anything either. So let's just agree that your word choice was perhaps not the best and move on.

Whatever the good wording they need to buy those items, whoever has children will buy them some laptops, at least it is what i did since i had to buy two for this purpose, i also bought two tablets for them, if i had the choice i would had settled for Mullins based items for the tablets since they have good GPU perfs and that children like to play some games.

That said i dont think that consumers are better served by a single product, moreover given the fact that the absent competing product is better that what is available.

On another topic i noticed some weird evolution of yours in the last year, i dont understand how one could advocate for a monopoly, are you working at Intel since some times.??.

 

[antihelten]

AMD could easily have gone the route imagination tech did in mobile. License out their IP and rake in huge profits, without ever having to design and market an actual SoC.

Imagination Tech reported operating profits of about $30.000 last FY, not exactly what I would call huge profits.

 

[CHADBOGA]

On another topic i noticed some weird evolution of yours in the last year, i dont understand how one could advocate for a monopoly, are you working at Intel since some times.??.

Noting the flaws of your arguments doesn't mean one is advocating for anyone.

 

[Abwx]

Noting the flaws of your arguments doesn't mean one is advocating for anyone.

There s no flaws in my arguments, unless you consider that a monopoly is better than a sane competition seen from a consumer point of view.

 

[NTMBK]

There s no flaws in my arguments,

Well that's a very arrogant statement to make. Everyone has flaws in their arguments.

 

[Abwx]

Well that's a very arrogant statement to make. Everyone has flaws in their arguments.

I agree that it could be arrogant in a discussion where there s no clear cuts but it is about a single point, that is, is competition good or not for the consumer.?.

You think that arguing that competition is better can be flawed.?.

Besides, where are the argument of Chadboga, he says that mine are flawed but he doesnt point said flaws.

I m curious to know your arguments about this precisely, notice that i m open to all suggestion but it wont surprised you that i m quite skeptical that one can prove me that a monopoly is a better deal.

 

[frozentundra123456]

The flaw is that contra revenue increases competition between Intel and android tablets. I just bought a win 8 tablet for 60.00 at microcenter. Without contra revenue, and competition forcing MS to make windows free on some devices, there would be a much smaller selection of win 8 tablets available.

 

[R0H1T]

The flaw is that contra revenue increases competition between Intel and android tablets. I just bought a win 8 tablet for 60.00 at microcenter. Without contra revenue, and competition forcing MS to make windows free on some devices, there would be a much smaller selection of win 8 tablets available.

That's a fail argument, it simply means that Intel couldn't compete on price & basically gave their chips away for free, which is what they actually did. If anyone with a semblance of reason argues that this is fair & in the interest of consumers, long term, then I question their sanity & also this keeps AMD, a very viable alternative to Intel, out of the mobile/tablet market !

 

[Shehriazad]

Someone should buy out AMD and make billions out of it. The way AMD is going it won't be around in a few short years - I doubt AMD will still be around by 2020 unless they really turn around.

In a recent Interview Lisa Su seemed to be absurdly confident about the future...and since I like fierce women...I'll blindly trust her

 

[NTMBK]

In a recent Interview Lisa Su seemed to be absurdly confident about the future...and since I like fierce women...I'll blindly trust her

Someone has a crush