If AMD goes out, who can fill the void?

[ShintaiDK]

Apple is sitting on like $150 billion in cash, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to imagine an outright purchase.

And considering Apple didnt already do it. We can pretty much conclude they are not interested.

 

[DownTheSky]

ATi was doing much better before being bought by AMD.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/24/amd-buying-ati-for-5-4-billion/

2006 The year AMD buys ATi, also the year GF 8800 GTX is released.

 

[Dribble]

I see no option for "No one will replace or buy AMD" which is the most likely one.

 

[Black Octagon]

a samsung buyout of the IP would be ideal. another big time player with the r&d funds to back it up and their own manufacturing facilities/expertise. this industry needs a serious kick in the ass; like them or not samsung has made big splashes in every market they've entered.

I know I'm pedantic, but...Samsung Electronics has. The wider Samsung group is in markets as diverse as shipyards, cars and clothes. However successful some of their products have been in these markets, I think it's safe to say we rarely see people wearing Samsung clothes outside of Asia.

Even if we limit outselves to Samsung Electronics, they are in markets where they are anything but dominant, e.g., medical imaging equipment.

I'm not making this post to be annoying. I'm suggesting that Samsung (like any company that knows its stuff) will go for a market hard and do well if and only if they see a real opportunity to do so. This means that buying ATI would need to actually pose some business attaction. There's a little more to it than saying "now Samsung, a proper company, is going to take over ATI and all will be well because it's Samsung."

I believe that, while Samsung may indeed have something substantive to gain in the handheld devices space from owning its own GPU manufacturing operations, this does not mean that the desktop GPU segment makes sense for them.

 

[schmuckley]

IBM or VIA