Yeah, Sony would be pretty far out there. Maybe if they dumped or spun off certain divisions afterward, but even then it would be pretty crazy.
The more I think about it, the more AMD makes sense. Yes, there are problems. Pissing off Intel would be the biggest problem. But AMD could transition the desktop Macs to AMD CPU's tomorrow and have few problems. The laptop CPU's are the bigger problem. Maybe Apple could simply snap up enough Intel laptop chips for the next several years of production beforehand? Because I believe that AMD could come out with power-competitive CPU's within a couple of years, given a few billion in R&D dollars poured in by an interested party like Apple. And AMD's future lineup of Fusion CPU/GPU SOC's is just what the Apple doctor ordered for things like the MacBook Air.
As far as structure goes, they would continue to run AMD as a separate company that does its own thing. But Apple would dump a few billion into R&D for the CPU's used in Apple machines.... and that tech could also be used in the CPU's that AMD sells to the broader PC markets. AMD has always had the potential for huge market share increases... putting Apple in their corner would make that more likely.
Don't get me wrong, the Intel/Apple partnership has been great for us Mac users, but there's some cracks showing (no 3rd-party chipsets for Core iX CPU's and Intel's piss-poor integrated graphics solutions) and given AMD's plans for SOC and the fact that they're starting out with great Radeon graphics that are already years beyond Intel's offerings, I think AMD could make sense for Apple, especially given the low price tag. Keep in mind, AMD is fabless so Apple would not be getting into fabbing if this happened.
I could even see this as a multi-year, multi-step process. First Apple buys a controlling share of AMD and pumps in some capital for R&D. Then a few years later, Apple finishes off the acquisition.
Again, I'm just throwing this out there, I guess it's kind of a fanboy thing as I'm a dual Apple/AMD fanboy. And I think it makes a hell of a lot more sense than Sony or Cisco (which I have also seen thrown around in "respectable" business rags as a potential Apple acquisition). WTF was that Barrons guy smoking?
The more I think about it, the more AMD makes sense. Yes, there are problems. Pissing off Intel would be the biggest problem. But AMD could transition the desktop Macs to AMD CPU's tomorrow and have few problems. The laptop CPU's are the bigger problem. Maybe Apple could simply snap up enough Intel laptop chips for the next several years of production beforehand? Because I believe that AMD could come out with power-competitive CPU's within a couple of years, given a few billion in R&D dollars poured in by an interested party like Apple. And AMD's future lineup of Fusion CPU/GPU SOC's is just what the Apple doctor ordered for things like the MacBook Air.
As far as structure goes, they would continue to run AMD as a separate company that does its own thing. But Apple would dump a few billion into R&D for the CPU's used in Apple machines.... and that tech could also be used in the CPU's that AMD sells to the broader PC markets. AMD has always had the potential for huge market share increases... putting Apple in their corner would make that more likely.
Don't get me wrong, the Intel/Apple partnership has been great for us Mac users, but there's some cracks showing (no 3rd-party chipsets for Core iX CPU's and Intel's piss-poor integrated graphics solutions) and given AMD's plans for SOC and the fact that they're starting out with great Radeon graphics that are already years beyond Intel's offerings, I think AMD could make sense for Apple, especially given the low price tag. Keep in mind, AMD is fabless so Apple would not be getting into fabbing if this happened.
I could even see this as a multi-year, multi-step process. First Apple buys a controlling share of AMD and pumps in some capital for R&D. Then a few years later, Apple finishes off the acquisition.
Again, I'm just throwing this out there, I guess it's kind of a fanboy thing as I'm a dual Apple/AMD fanboy. And I think it makes a hell of a lot more sense than Sony or Cisco (which I have also seen thrown around in "respectable" business rags as a potential Apple acquisition). WTF was that Barrons guy smoking?
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