[WCCFT]Samsung may aquire AMD

[Cloudfire777]

This one is tasty.
I can`t say Im shocked about it. With the AMD stocks falling, AMD going red quarter after quarter, year after year, AMD struggling with high end CPUs but doing OK with APUs which is kinda/sorta Samsung`s expertize, plus the GPU marketshare is at an alltime low.

If its one company that have the interest for AMDs IPs and have the financial power for it, plus have their own foundry to compete with Intel, its Samsung

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A fresh report from South Korea has just surfaced with claims that Samsung will allegedly attempt an AMD buyout to compete with Intel. The report claims that the Korean giant will attempt to acquire AMD and merge it with one of its subsidiaries


According to the report Samsung’s aim is to secure both CPU and GPU IP from AMD. Then use the IP to fuel future growth opportunities as well as put itself in a more favorable position to compete against its equally large rival Intel and its smaller but still very successful mobile rival Qualcomm.

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Source: http://wccftech.com/amd-allegedly-merge-samsung/

 

[Head1985]

I hope they buy them and give them a lot of money so they can compete with intel/NV
I also hope if they buy them they will continue make desktop CPU/GPU and if they stop then i hope samsung wont buy them

 

[Noctifer616]

Rumors like this have been going around for years and nothing really happened. I seriosly doubt it will be any different now.

 

[AnandThenMan]

My body is ready, and by body I mean stock portfolio. Don't think it will happen though but it should this would be a tremendous boon the tech sector.

 

[Gloomy]

Not a bad combination, to be honest. AMD is flush with (good) IP, and Samsung has the means to leverage it.

But I doubt this will happen.

 

[Annisman*]

Would be nice to have all that cash behind AMD, Samsung does have tons of cash yes ?

 

[cbrunny]

Yeah Samsung was going to buy Blackberry too. Right. I'll believe this when I see it.

I don't like it though. No reason, just my gut reaction.

 

[positivedoppler]

Last month AMD was talking to BLX with a 19 billion dollar deal and now recent rumors of high ranking Samsung officials visiting AMD follow by this news article. Seems like AMD is shopping itself around for either and buyout or partnership.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Last month AMD was talking to BLX with a 19 billion dollar deal and now recent rumors of high ranking Samsung officials visiting AMD follow by this news article. Seems like AMD is shopping itself around for either and buyout or partnership.

Or someone is busy making ad revenue on gossip.

 

[swilli89]

Picture shows two white dudes shaking hands when it should be asian and middle eastern hands. ()

 

[Kenmitch]

Would be nice to see some money pumped into AMD. Just imagine the gpus they could produce with a real R&D budget....Hmm!

I can see why those who prefer NVidia frown on the idea of AMD being infused with money. On a level playing field I feel AMD could do so much better!

 

[Cloudfire777]

Would be nice to have all that cash behind AMD, Samsung does have tons of cash yes ?

$62.4 billion in cash reserves in November 2014
http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/arti...rgest-conglomerates-increased-16-trillion-won


AMD have 187 million stock holders in total
AMD is currently worth $2.64/stock
In total AMD is worth: $493 million

I think Samsung can afford $0.5 billion...

 

[Noctifer616]

$62.4 billion in cash reserves in November 2014
http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/arti...rgest-conglomerates-increased-16-trillion-won


187 million stock holders in total for AMD
AMD is currently worth $2.64/stock
In total AMD is worth: $493 million

I think Samsung can afford $0.5 billion...

A lot of companies can afford AMD, doesn't mean they will.

 

[Cloudfire777]

A lot of companies can afford AMD, doesn't mean they will.

Yes true, but like mentioned, Samsung have huge interest of AMD IPs and could gain a ton more than those 0.5billion if they invest.

With proper management and a ton of money to produce and engineer CPUs and GPUs, and have a shot at Intel (and Nvidia), it could be the best deal Samsung could ever have done.
The value could be 100s times more worth than what they would pay for AMD now (if the board agrees)

AMD is in such a bad situation where its best for everyone, not just the companies but also the customers (us) to have a financial beast with their own state of the art foundry, taking over and making the company competitive against Intel and Nvidia. Right now AMD is laying on the ground beaten, not dead yet, while Intel and Nvidia is ready to kick them the minute they try to get up

 

[Despoiler]

$62.4 billion in cash reserves in November 2014
http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/arti...rgest-conglomerates-increased-16-trillion-won


AMD have 187 million stock holders in total
AMD is currently worth $2.64/stock
In total AMD is worth: $493 million

I think Samsung can afford $0.5 billion...

The sale would be for much more than the worth. If AMD's current investors sell, they are going to demand and will absolutely get a hefty price premium. The protection AMD's IP would bring Samsung against lawsuits will be leveraged. The GPU IP will get rolled into their cell phone SOC. That is in addition to getting a desktop/server CPU/GPU business units(assuming they don't kill them). I can see the price end up closer to $1 billion.

 

[Cloudfire777]

The sale would be for much more than the worth. If AMD's current investors sell, they are going to demand and will absolutely get a hefty price premium. The protection AMD's IP would bring Samsung against lawsuits will be leveraged. I can see the price end up closer to $1 billion.

Yeah you are probably right, I have no idea about the final price. I was just reporting the current state. But even at $1billion they should have the money for it

 

[Silverforce11]

Called it a few years ago. Samsung SoCs are rubbish when it comes to GPU tech, they are using generic MALI cores from ARM which is lacking, at the same node, they have horrible perf and perf/w. They needed a full node advantage as seen in Galaxy 6 to match rivals Qualcomm (Adreno IP from ATI!) and IM's PowerVR (from the old days when 3d accelerators started!).

It's the same problem Intel faces when they try to compete in the mobile scene. Even with their node advantage its not competitive versus ARM + Adreno/PowerVR or even Mali.

Samsung also has a strong presence on desktops & notebooks and they want to control what goes inside their products, basically the entire chain if possible. Reliance on Intel/Qualcomm is losing them potential profit with each product sold. Likewise they see a strong growth in HPC/Servers.

This is a win for consumers, because AMD has the tech, IP & engineers, but they lack good management & marketing as well as reliance on TSMC. Samsung's foundries making Radeons & APUs? Aw yeah!

 

[boozzer]

I thought amd lose alot of it's IP if it is sold? hence the main reason why no one buys it?

 

[mikedeatworld]

$62.4 billion in cash reserves in November 2014
http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/arti...rgest-conglomerates-increased-16-trillion-won


AMD have 187 million stock holders in total
AMD is currently worth $2.64/stock
In total AMD is worth: $493 million

I think Samsung can afford $0.5 billion...

Actually, AMD has a market cap closer to $2+ billion...

http://www.bing.com/search?q=amd+finance

That would really make things a bit different if a buyout were to happen. I think AMD would have to get purchased at, roughly $5-10 billion for shareholders to accept the buyout.

Although, these rumors happen every year with AMD...

Does anyone think this one has a better chance?

 

[Silverforce11]

Does anyone think this one has a better chance?

Because the source is actually Korean news rather than the typical fud from western tech sites made up for page hits.

http://economy.hankooki.com/lpage/industry/201503/e20150317173417120250.htm

Really, how long do you think Samsung can hold off against putting Qualcomm in all its devices if they do not improve their GPU tech? They are lucky this time due to being first to 14nm ff for the S6, its making that device look competitive against typical Snapdragon high-end, which are still on 20nm.

 

[lavaheadache]

I hope this will make me rich...

 

[frozentundra123456]

Seems like it would be easier to just license the tech that they (a potential buyer) need rather than an outright buyout of AMD. Wouldnt come with the baggage of AMD's debt, the problems with transferring the x86 license, and getting out from under GF.

 

[5150Joker]

I had my girlfriend read the article (she's S. Korean) and she said the gist of the article is that Samsung may just poach AMD engineers rather than an outright M&A since it would be cheaper.

Also if for some odd reason Samsung did purchase AMD along with the IP, what do you guys think the chances are that Samsung would continue the AIB market? I'd put it almost at zero. If they want AMD, it's for the lucrative high volume markets like SoC for tablets/phones/notebooks and possibly the x86 for the server market (if they can somehow retain the x86 patent). I don't think they'd care at all about the shrinking AIB market.

I think it's time I come up with some quick cash and start buying some AMD and NVIDIA stock (they just got downgraded recently).

 

[Silverforce11]

I had my girlfriend read the article (she's S. Korean) and she said the gist of the article is that Samsung may just poach AMD engineers rather than an outright M&A since it would be cheaper.

Also if for some odd reason Samsung did purchase AMD along with the IP, what do you guys think the chances are that Samsung would continue the AIB market? I'd put it almost at zero. If they want AMD, it's for the lucrative high volume markets like SoC for tablets/phones/notebooks and possibly the x86 for the server market (if they can somehow retain the x86 patent). I don't think they'd care at all about the shrinking AIB market.

Not for purely AIB dGPU market, in fact, it probably won't be AIB if they are selling consumer Radeons, it'll be Samsung built & labeled, premium marketing.

But the GPU HPC sector is fast growing and you bet Samsung wants a slice of that, along with x86 Servers. They already sell heaps of Samsung PCs, notebooks, servers, just with Intel solutions on the inside. AMD has shown its GPUs are equally capable in HPC as well as consumer Radeons, two birds, one-stone.

I read an interview of their late CEO a long time ago, his vision and goal is whatever market they choose to enter, they dominate it, the entire supply chain, everything made by Samsung to maximize quality control & profitability. This is why they for so long, have stuck with Exynos SOCs when its worse than Qualcomm, but they can't keep doing that, as soon as those other SOCs move to 14/16nm ff at TSMC, Exynos would be a joke in comparison.

 

[Silverforce11]

Seems like it would be easier to just license the tech that they (a potential buyer) need rather than an outright buyout of AMD. Wouldnt come with the baggage of AMD's debt, the problems with transferring the x86 license, and getting out from under GF.

You think so, but Samsung disagrees. Licensing is a short term solution. They think long term.

I mean, why not license Adreno/PowerVR tech for Exynos? Because they are NOT in the business of making a profit for their direct competitors.

The same thing happened in LCDs, they could have just used LG tech via licensing but nope.. now they dominate the TV market as well as pushing strongly into the monitor market.