AMD Q1 2015 Earnings - 23 cents a share loss, to exit dense server (SeaMicro)

[NTMBK]

Where?

We see very strong opportunities for next-generation high-performance x86 and ARM processors for the enterprise datacenter and infrastructure markets, and will continue to invest strongly in these areas.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/307...-2015-results-earnings-call-transcript?page=2

 

[witeken]

Like Intel is turning in to a Server company ??

Most of Intel's revenue comes from desktop.
Intel is also a NAND company.
They also have Internet of Things. And software & services.
Lastly, they have their foundry and mobile segments.

Intel is an "If it computes (and connects), it does it best with Intel" kind of company.

 

[mrmt]

http://seekingalpha.com/article/307...-2015-results-earnings-call-transcript?page=2

From the same company that calls Bulldozer a high performance server CPU?

 

[AtenRa]

Most of Intel's revenue comes from desktop.

Mobile (Laptop) Revenue and Operating Income is double of Desktop for the last 4-5 years now.

And for the first time the Server group Operating Income is higher than Desktop and Laptop combine in Q1 2015.

 

[AtenRa]

From the same company that calls Bulldozer a high performance server CPU?

Trolling much ?? you got your answer and then you didnt have anything else to say but troll.

 

[frozentundra123456]

High performance can mean a lot of things. Besides, what company ever said they were coming out with a low performance cpu?

 

[AtenRa]

High performance can mean a lot of things. Besides, what company ever said they were coming out with a low performance cpu?

Neither AMD nor Intel ever said that Cat and Atom were High-Performance x86 CPUs

 

[Shehriazad]

Just a liiiiittle more and I can buy 51% of the shares with my lunch money....then I can finally force them to build a 1000mm² 64 Core 500W TDP CPU...because MOAR CORES!


On a serious note....this is all expected, anyway...so I don't really see this as big news.
AMD currently has 2 last shots at turning their game around at all...or to shrink down to semicustom only(or even sell it all off).
Those 2 shots are the 300 series and their Zen/K12 archs...basically in Q2 2016 we should be able to tell if AMD will just entirely disappear from the PC/Mobile market or not. xD

 

[frozentundra123456]

Neither AMD nor Intel ever said that Cat and Atom were High-Performance x86 CPUs

Exactly. That is probably all "high performance" tells us right now, that it is probably not based on cat cores.

 

[mrmt]

High performance can mean a lot of things. Besides, what company ever said they were coming out with a low performance cpu?

This is what Intel has to say about Silvermont, their mobile and dense server architecture:

http://www.intel.com/newsroom/kits/idf/2013_fall/pdfs/bay_trail_fact_sheet.pdf

(...)

Based on a new low-power, high-performance microarchitecture “Silvermont,” (announced in May 2013), “Bay Trail” is Intel’s first tri-gate 3-D 22nm quad core SoC and its most powerful processor1 to-date for tablets and other sleek devices that provide a balance of performance, features and battery life. The flexibility of the Silvermont microarchitecture allowed Intel to deliver multiple variants of the platform to market for the tablet, 2 in 1, entry laptop and desktop and all-in-one (AIO) segments. “Bay Trail-T” is the next-generation 22nm quad-core Intel® Atom™ SoC for tablets and 2 in 1 devices. The “Bay Trail-M” and “Bay Trail-D” parts are for innovative entry-level laptops, 2 in 1s, desktops and AIOs that will be branded Intel® Pentium® and Intel® Celeron®."

(...)

This is what AMD has to say about Carrizo, you know, the 35W and below chip that should power notebooks and other thin devices:

http://www.amd.com/en-us/press-releases/Pages/amd-discloses-architecture-2015feb23.aspx
AMD Discloses Architecture Details of High-Performance, Energy-Efficient “Carrizo” System-on-Chip


(...)

And this is what AMD has to say about Jaguar SoCs:

https://www.amd.com/Documents/AMDGSeriesSOCProductBrief.pdf


The AMD Embedded G-Series SOC platform is a high-performance, low-power System-on-Chip (SOC) design, featured with enterpriseclass error-correction code (ECC) memory support, dual and quadcore variants, integrated discrete-class GPU and I/O controller on the same die.

(...)

So yes, high performance can mean a lot of things to both companies. That AMD came forward and said that Zen and K12 are high performance chips without providing any additional context is as meaningless as it can be.

 

[NTMBK]

From the same company that calls Bulldozer a high performance server CPU?

Well obviously there's no guarantee it will be a good high performance design But it's an indication that it is aimed at the Broadwell end of the performance spectrum, rather than the Jaguar that some had feared.

 

[mrmt]

Well obviously there's no guarantee it will be a good high performance design But it's an indication that it is aimed at the Broadwell end of the performance spectrum, rather than the Jaguar that some had feared.

Check my previous post. AMD also called Jaguar-based chips high-performance too, so I wouldn't consider this any indication at all. That, unless you consider that Jaguar was designed to compete against the Core end of the performance spectrum as well.

 

[NTMBK]

Check my previous post. AMD also called Jaguar-based chips high-performance too, so I wouldn't consider this any indication at all. That, unless you consider that Jaguar was designed to compete against the Core end of the performance spectrum as well.

Yeah, I read your post right after I hit "Submit reply", lol. Fairly good point. I'm going to keep hoping anyway (Mostly because I don't see the point of making an ARM core with A72 level performance, when the A72 is available already.)

 

[ShintaiDK]

Neither AMD nor Intel ever said that Cat and Atom were High-Performance x86 CPUs

Exactly. That is probably all "high performance" tells us right now, that it is probably not based on cat cores.

AMD called Bobcat high performance for example.

Anyone dreaming of 3-4Ghz SB IPC class chips are in for a huge dissapointment.

What had people expected anyway. Do anyone really think any company wouldnt call all their cores for high performance?

 

[Arachnotronic]

mrmt

It seems to me that AMD intends to do "big core" class CPUs with K12/Zen. They are routinely talking about how they've basically exited the low end of the PC market and want to improve their product mix in PCs.

They also want to gun for servers, embedded, etc.

This tells me "big core" -- or at least, something much more like big Core than like an Atom.

 

[NTMBK]

Anyone dreaming of 3-4Ghz SB IPC class chips are in for a huge dissapointment.

It's fun to watch you twist "we don't know what this means" into "this means it's going to suck".

 

[mrmt]

Yeah, I read your post right after I hit "Submit reply", lol. Fairly good point. I'm going to keep hoping anyway (Mostly because I don't see the point of making an ARM core with A72 level performance, when the A72 is available already.)

My guess is that they should be aiming a bit above A72 levels of performance but with increased power efficiency, something akin to what Qualcomm did with Krait but not what Apple did with Cyclone. That would make this product a very good contender in the Microserver market and it wouldn't be terribly burdensome in terms of cost to develop, and would also address the bulk of the performance envelope of their current TAM.

But basically with the Microserver market not growing fast enough, to the point AMD basically wrote off their microserver investment, AMD might end up with an inviable product like because one of the cash flow legs of the business won't be there. This is why I said that the first shoe has dropped, once AMD wrote down the Microserver market this will somehow be reflected in the projects AMD will be funding from now on. I expect a few surprises on the FAD.

 

[AtenRa]

Check my previous post. AMD also called Jaguar-based chips high-performance too, so I wouldn't consider this any indication at all. That, unless you consider that Jaguar was designed to compete against the Core end of the performance spectrum as well.

The BIG difference here is that Lisa Su was talking about Servers and not entry/Low-End consumer CPUs.

Lisa Su - President and CEO

We see very strong opportunities for next-generation high-performance x86 and ARM processors for the enterprise datacenter and infrastructure markets, and will continue to invest strongly in these areas.

 

[Magic Carpet]

It's fun to watch you twist "we don't know what this means" into "this means it's going to suck".

Well, AMD has to prove everybody now that it can deliver. Of course, you can look at it both ways, pessimistic or optimistic way. That's fine by me

 

[ShintaiDK]

It's fun to watch you twist "we don't know what this means" into "this means it's going to suck".

Right, a tiny R&D budget and 50% IPC increases is the norm from a company that failed to deliver the last 10 years. Consider me not convienced.

 

[mrmt]

It seems to me that AMD intends to do "big core" class CPUs with K12/Zen. They are routinely talking about how they've basically exited the low end of the PC market and want to improve their product mix in PCs.

They also want to gun for servers, embedded, etc.

This tells me "big core" -- or at least, something much more like big Core than like an Atom.

Talk is cheap, I'm looking at where they are putting their money in:

- A big core is a complex and expensive venture, how do you expect them to compete on this cutthroat embedded market with complex and expensive IP? That's right, you don't. In order to be competitive on this market they need a heavily cost-optimized part, otherwise it's the next-gen console and that's it.

- Despite all the talk about servers, they put actual money on the Microserver market, not on the high end server market, so I don't think they would acquire Seamicro just to design products to the high end server market. Don't forget that the aim of Microservers is to compete against high end servers. Microservers were basilar to AMD's strategy, and I cannot think of this fact not influencing the product scope definition of K12 and Zen.

So I don't see their strategy pointing out to a complex core like Core or Bulldozer, but more to a cheap, efficient part. It may be bigger than cat, but it should not be as big as Core or even Bulldozer in terms of complexity and performance envelope.

Ed: Btw, if they don't consider what they have now being low end, what's the low end for them? Someone at AMD BoD is delusional about their place in the food chain.

 

[Phynaz]

As I have said, lets wait and see how CURRENT Product portfolio (Carrizo, Seattle, Fiji) will do in 2015 and then we can see about 2016.

It was you who jumped to conclusions about 2016, not me

We already know how the current products will do. Just look the guidance provided by AMD.

 

[Phynaz]

Neither AMD nor Intel ever said that Cat and Atom were High-Performance x86 CPUs

Actually AMD has in their press releases.

http://www.amd.com/en-us/press-releases/Pages/amd-introduces-2014apr9.aspx



Edit:
Beat by mrmt

 

[Phynaz]

The BIG difference here is that Lisa Su was talking about Servers and not entry/Low-End consumer CPUs.

There's no difference. You were caught with your pants down. You made no qualification on your statement, you said "never".

 

[krumme]

The BoD are amazingly unscathed in terms of public scrutiny after years and years of mismanagement and dereliction of duties.

They dont matter. Mubadala is effectively bank and BoD for amd.