Well This Can't Be Good: AMD Axes Carrell Killebrew & Other Employees

[AtenRa]

AMD is an x86 company, they can make more profit in servers alone than with ARM SOC's (Although ARM could be made for Servers in the future) .

AMD's strategy is the Fusion, both in Desktop, Mobile and Server. They have just started (LLano) and i dont think they will stop focusing in that direction in the near future.

As of GPUs, they will make a major shift with the GCN architecture that will open more doors in the HPC market (higher ASP = more profit). GCN and Fusion will make GPGPU more widespread in desktop too now that both AMD and NVIDIA will push it.

Give it a few years to see if they will be able to do what they are planing

 

[wahdangun]

If they go down in flames I'd wager someone is going to want to buy out the GPU division, since they are actually putting out competitive products.

My vote goes to Intel buying out ATI from AMD. :thumbsup: Opening them up to their fab facilities. Once the ATI people were up to speed on what Intel is using, they would probably take over the GPU market in no short order making use of Intel's better process tech over what they had with TSMC.

that was the worst idea i ever heard, it will lead to catastrophic intel monopoly in GPU and CPU business. let face it, nvdia won't have a chance if ATI was paired wit intel

 

[Bobisuruncle54]

that was the worst idea i ever heard, it will lead to catastrophic intel monopoly in GPU and CPU business. let face it, nvdia won't have a chance if ATI was paired wit intel

But that's kind of the point isn't it? An Intel owned ATI monopoly would be better than a Nvidia one (no reliance on TSMC, etc) and if AMD is in trouble, I would much rather see ATI survive as well than Nvidia be the only one left and have no competition in the market (or have you forgotten Nvidia's ludicrous pricing when they aren't taken down a peg by ATI?).

Besides, ATI probably wouldn't dominate that much as Intel would most likely use its superior process technology to boost profits, rather than performance.

 

[Arkadrel]

I think AMD should try teaming up with IBM to create more powerful x86 CPUs.

Seriously IBM buying AMD would be a great thing.

Until then... I guess AMD just gonna give up on Top-end CPUs, and focus everything on low-end APU's.

Their bobcat and Llano are decent cpus, much better than their top-end bulldozer, so.....

The big winner here is Intel, now they ll have even less competition on Top-end than they already do, and can charge even more for their CPUs.

Originally Posted by Grooveriding
If they go down in flames I'd wager someone is going to want to buy out the GPU division, since they are actually putting out competitive products.

My vote goes to Intel buying out ATI from AMD. :thumbsup: Opening them up to their fab facilities. Once the ATI people were up to speed on what Intel is using, they would probably take over the GPU market in no short order making use of Intel's better process tech over what they had with TSMC.

AMD already has more power effecient designs than Nvidia.... Intel getting ATI.... man... and with Intel fabs.... Nvidia would be pushed out of the pc GPU market.

If AMD does go down in flames, I kinda hope Intel buys ATI, and the guys that made the APU's and GPU's.

 

[soccerballtux]

I guess things must be really rough at AMD? They just fired 10%-12% of their workforce as a cost cutting measure. Carrell Killebrew, one of their top GPU engineers, was on that list.

http://semiaccurate.com/2011/11/03/amd-cuts-10-of-workforce-leaves-one-group-untouched/

don't worry AMD has turbo mode now so the remaining engineers can make up for it with 60 hour weeks and increased management voltage to make them work faster.

 

[n0x1ous]

Killbrew was one of the brightest lights at AMD. Particularly after reading Anand's backstory on the HD 5000 series. Where does someone like that go now? could be a big score for Nvidia....

 

[SirPauly]

This was a step that the CEO discussed in the conference call:

In the last few quarters, you've also heard Thomas describe our initiatives to streamline our business processes. We will continue to explore ways to accelerate this effort, both to unlock these efficiencies and productivity to better compete in the current marketplace and also to enable our organization to better capture the trends for which our technologies are so well suited, namely the move to low power platforms, the continued rise of the emerging markets and the emergence of cloud and mega data center computing

http://seekingalpha.com/article/303...sses-q3-2011-results-earnings-call-transcript

 

[Skurge]

Killbrew was one of the brightest lights at AMD. Particularly after reading Anand's backstory on the HD 5000 series. Where does someone like that go now? could be a big score for Nvidia....

Or Intel.

 

[jacktesterson]

Guess its Time for PowerVR tor release the KYRO III



Sucks as I've been traditionally a ATI Guy

 

[bryanW1995]

I'm sad to see them go, especially Killebrew, but they haven't exactly been kicking a$$ since AMD bought ATI 5 years ago. They mostly righted the ATI ship a couple of years ago, but even with things going very well they are barely making money. As much as I hate to say it, they're better off spending their R&D dollars in emerging technologies/markets if they can't get better ROI on their investment dollars in gpus.

If AMD as a company goes the way of voodoo then intel is far and away the most likely suitor to pick up the former "ATI" division, while nvidia would probably be a good fit for the cpu division. Intel's process advantage might not be quite as pronounced in gpus, tsmc has much more experience in that area, etc etc, so I could see nvidia maintaining gpu dominance. If they could just stay close enough in cpus they could actually end up being the rival to intel that we've always hoped that AMD would be.

 

[SirPauly]

The key is the savings may be invested for lower power, emerging markets, and the cloud.

I'm sorry, but tough decisions must be made but the key is to target these emerging markets and be more aggressive. I like what the CEO is doing. Sadly, tough decisions have to me made.

 

[SickBeast]

I'm sad to see them go, especially Killebrew, but they haven't exactly been kicking a$$ since AMD bought ATI 5 years ago. They mostly righted the ATI ship a couple of years ago, but even with things going very well they are barely making money. As much as I hate to say it, they're better off spending their R&D dollars in emerging technologies/markets if they can't get better ROI on their investment dollars in gpus.

If AMD as a company goes the way of voodoo then intel is far and away the most likely suitor to pick up the former "ATI" division, while nvidia would probably be a good fit for the cpu division. Intel's process advantage might not be quite as pronounced in gpus, tsmc has much more experience in that area, etc etc, so I could see nvidia maintaining gpu dominance. If they could just stay close enough in cpus they could actually end up being the rival to intel that we've always hoped that AMD would be.

QFT

That would be an ideal scenario. The thing is, though, Intel seems to be well on their way to developing a DX11 GPU without even needing AMD or nVidia. I'm doubtful that nVidia would take such a massive risk as well; AMD's CPU division has a terrible history at the high end of the market over the past 5 years, and I can't see nVidia being interested in developing anything that is not cutting edge.

 

[Vesku]

I just don't see why they would let go of Killebrew. Really hope this isn't like the rumblings pre-FX launch.

 

[SirPauly]

My nit-pick on AMD is investments into emerging markets and areas of potential growth. I loathed the small die strategy and way too re-active. When Rory P. Read did take over, he offered two words -- Aggressor and Predator -- that's the kind of mind-set that AMD needed, imho. I really like the company talking about investments and mind-sets to risk for emerging markets and growth potential.

 

[exar333]

I'm sad to see them go, especially Killebrew, but they haven't exactly been kicking a$$ since AMD bought ATI 5 years ago. They mostly righted the ATI ship a couple of years ago, but even with things going very well they are barely making money. As much as I hate to say it, they're better off spending their R&D dollars in emerging technologies/markets if they can't get better ROI on their investment dollars in gpus.

If AMD as a company goes the way of voodoo then intel is far and away the most likely suitor to pick up the former "ATI" division, while nvidia would probably be a good fit for the cpu division. Intel's process advantage might not be quite as pronounced in gpus, tsmc has much more experience in that area, etc etc, so I could see nvidia maintaining gpu dominance. If they could just stay close enough in cpus they could actually end up being the rival to intel that we've always hoped that AMD would be.

Not sure I agree. ATI has consistently been the 'bright spot' in AMD within the past 4-5 years. That span covered some great products from the 3xxx, 4xxx, 5xxx, and 6xxx series'. They released Eyefinity, kept power usage respectable, helped lower mid-range GPUs in the market, and have offered some good mobile GPU options as well. If they were not saddled with a debt-ridden parent (AMD) they might be doing better. The solid things that are making money for AMD today (Llano) are a direct result of ATI expertise. I would be interested to see how fiscally successful ATI could have been under a different company other than AMD.

 

[SirPauly]

Imho,

ATI was a perfect fit for AMD, and if AMD decided to invest resources into GPU's -- how long would it take? How many resources would it take? Much more than 5 billion dollars and you have the talent, patents at your disposal instantly to create Fusion, strong discrete products, platform strategies, and innovation with GPU processing, moving forward.

For both companies to grow for the future --- it made a lot of sense. One of the best moves AMD did was get ATI.

 

[exar333]

Imho,

ATI was a perfect fit for AMD, and if AMD decided to invest resources into GPU's -- how long would it take? How many resources would it take? Much more than 5 billion dollars and you have the talent, patents at your disposal instantly to create Fusion, strong discrete products, platform strategies, and innovation with GPU processing, moving forward.

For both companies to grow for the future --- it made a lot of sense. One of the best moves AMD did was get ATI.

Agreed in principle. Unfortunately, AMD really couldn't afford ATI at the price they purchased it for, and it hurt both companies because of it.

 

[SirPauly]

Let's put it this way: Where would AMD's growth be without Fusion and platforms?

 

[Genx87]

If they go down in flames I'd wager someone is going to want to buy out the GPU division, since they are actually putting out competitive products.

My vote goes to Intel buying out ATI from AMD. :thumbsup: Opening them up to their fab facilities. Once the ATI people were up to speed on what Intel is using, they would probably take over the GPU market in no short order making use of Intel's better process tech over what they had with TSMC.

Never happen. Govt would never let Intel control 80% of the graphics market with that purchase. I wouldnt be surprised if Apple bought AMD for the CPU and GPU's. It would get Apple much needed patents for upcomming litigation.

 

[Genx87]

Let's put it this way: Where would AMD's growth be without Fusion and platforms?

What growth?

It would most likely be where AMD should be, in tablets and phones making an ARM device. Instead of trying to battle the 800 pound gorilla(intel) with 50 pounds of weights(ATI debt) tied to their arms.

 

[SirPauly]

Now let's take a deeper look at the mobile segment. In the third quarter, we saw a record AMD processor shipment and revenue in the mobile space. Over 90% of our mobile units were Fusion APUs, which are uniquely suited to meet the advanced processing needs of today's mainstream and entry-level mobile PC buyers.

We also set another record for Brazos shipment in the quarter, up 36% quarter-to-quarter, and our mobile AMD processor unit sales in total are now up over 50% in the last 2 quarters alone.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/303...sses-q3-2011-results-earnings-call-transcript

 

[formulav8]

People, its the new Boss doing this. Not BD, not HD7k. Nothing specific like lackluster BD or shrinking gpu market has anything to do with these cuts specifially. Its all about trimming the fat away you could say. This is all the CEOs doing.

 

[Vesku]

Well if BD was a roaring success I think he would have tempered his "emerging markets, good enough" mantra a bit.

And why ditch the guy who lead the HD5xxx success and introduced Eyefinity. Either he wasn't excited about a change in focus or something is shaky in the GPU division.

 

[exar333]

People, its the new Boss doing this. Not BD, not HD7k. Nothing specific like lackluster BD or shrinking gpu market has anything to do with these cuts specifially. Its all about trimming the fat away you could say. This is all the CEOs doing.

I don't buy that. Llano supply issues was severe enough to cut 3Q earnings. BD issues and production difficulties will continue to hamper AMD. If BD had been a smashing success, they likely would not be cutting staff, just adding or re-allocating existing staff where they needed it.

 

[formulav8]

There would have been cuts whether BD was a success or not. But fair enough with what you said. Since I doubt they would ever 'Truly' release what some of the cuts is about, it will be speculation either way.

Edit: And you can be sure a big reason was to make the money people happy for at least the short term. But who knows what the long term affect will be...