5 Companies Interested in AMD/ATI buyout?

[G07H1C]

Is AMD/ATI Doomed?

It looks bad right now for AMD, or is it a strategic move? To start, there are 5 companies interested in the purchase:
1 Nvidia
2 Samsung
3 IBM
4 Microsoft
5 HP

Or is this another AMD ruse to better their positioning? Any takes on what's gonna happen?

[Mochan]

You got some news articles we can read regarding this issue? If this is seriously going down I can see MS trying to grab that conglomerate so they can have some real hardware expertise in their pocket to crank out the next XBox, Media Center PCs, etc.

[G07H1C]

I know there are some articles out there, some are even pretty old, many people think that AMD is seriously on their way out, I personally hope not, especially after the ATI transaction.

I think Microsoft is wanting nothing more than buy AMD out no matter the risk or money.
IBM - all the IBM junkies out there thinking they may want to get back into racket.
Nvidia & Intel just do not get along, how far would Nvidia go?
HP & Samsung, this would help both companies, but would it help enough?

You believe, if this were ever to happen, would just better their consoles, good thought as well.

Why would AMD file bankruptcy after the ATI deal? Doesn't make sense really! I was just wanting some takes or different views on the subject! I haven't read to many of the articles at all - I do know that AMD is still having money problems, and the rumors are still floating around.

[Mochan]

I have a feeling AMD does have money problems, that's *why* they inked the deal with ATI in the first place, ATI was probably not doing as well either and a merger probably let them increase resources and stabilize their financial boat. AMD did not ostensibly "acquire" ATI so much as did a merger to help stabilize both companies.

Unfortunately for AMD their spider platform was a bit of a bust and ATI was not lighting up anyone's passions with their 3700 series and HD2900 lineup of cards. It's only now with the 4800 that ATI is finally coming back, so basically Intel/Nvidia ruled over them for like the past two years so I wouldn't be surprised if AMD/ATI was bleeding in the red all this time. I am not saying this is what happened, I did not study the industry at all but from a casual observer's perspective this seems to be what is happening.

I think HP could be very interested in AMD, they have a full line of PCs and PocketPCs that could benefit with a bit of a price drop if they could get the hardware for it more cheaply, and it would be great to see AMD's new mobile procie in their PPCs. HP definitely needs to be more competitive because their products tend to be overpriced and solely aimed at the business crowd, everyone else tends to go for other products now and those other products have been getting cheaper ever since Apple joined the fray with their iPhone.

Samsung is also one of those "other" products and samsung has been releasing a lot of good cheap business phones and non-business phones alike recently. The one thing they are missing is a powerful desktop brand and acquiring AMD could be the first step to establishing one. That and they would further be able to lower the price of their already cutthroat phones/PDAs with AMD tech in their pockets.

IBM I guess is just starting to become a forgotten company and are slowly disappearing off the face of the earth, to get back in the big leagues they may see this as the way to do it.


I think the companies most suited to taking advantage of AMD/ATI is MS and HP. If this thing does happen I pick either of those two to be doing the scooping.

[G07H1C]

What about Nvidia? Not only would they virtually eliminate their biggest GPU competitor, but they would finally be able to compete with Intel! Intel did state that there is no real use for separate graphic cards & that they plan to do away with them so to speak. Sounds like a small threat!

I can definitely see HP's point of interest - would Samsung really benefit as much? I like some of their products!

Let's face it, Microsoft is almost perfect for this buyout as well, they have had some negative publicity as of late (Vista), and some problems elsewhere as we all know, but this could get them into the chip business vs Intel?!?!?

I have not used the 4800 card yet from ATI, from what I've read, seems pretty sweet! ATI still always seems to be 1 step behind Nvidia - Maybe a new AMD line & ATI's new line will get them both over the hump with a nice cinderella story!

[silversparrow]

AMD did not ostensibly "acquire" ATI so much as did a merger to help stabilize both companies.

It was a full acquisition (http://ir.ati.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=105421&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=921365&highlight=) for $5.4 billion.

[Mochan]

I stand corrected! But I was always of the mind that they did the acquisition because they were feeling butt hurt against Intel!

[G07H1C]

Irregardless, someone has to compete against Intel. I've always been sort of an underdogger, if AMD could now come up with something competitive, now that ATI has - who knows, maybe they can get back on top!

Even when AMD had the edge over Intel the past 5 yrs or so, Intel still led in sales! This is sort of a weak comparison, but it is kinda like people paying 24.95 for AOL (Dialup) when you could get high speed for the same price?????