The projections for AMD's second fiscal quarter had revenue somewhere between flat and down 6%. The actual estimate, as of July 6th, is actually below the entire range. They expect that revenue is down 8% from the previous quarter, rather than the aforementioned 0 to 6%. This is attributed to weaker APU sales in OEM devices, but they also claim that channel sales are in line with projections.
This is disappointing news for fans of AMD, of course. The next two quarters will be more telling though. Q3 will count two of the launch months for Windows 10, which will likely include a bunch of new and interesting devices and aligns well with back to school season. We then get one more chance at a pleasant surprise in the fourth quarter and its holiday season, too. My intuition is that it won't be too much better than however Q3 ends up.
One extra note: AMD has also announced a “one-time charge” of $33 million USD related to a change in product roadmap. Rather than releasing designs at 20nm, they have scrapped those plans and will architect them for “the leading-edge FinFET node”. This might be a small expense compared to how much smaller the process technology will become. Intel is at 14nm and will likely be there for some time. Now AMD doesn't need to wait around at 20nm in the same duration.
Warned of this during the
Warned of this during the E3/Fury X hype and run-up, boosted by more rumors of possible MS/Samsung/Qualcomm buy-out that any gains were short-lived and that price target of $2 was real in the week or so before earnings once reality set back in. Looks like I was a little earlier than expected. 😉
Next quarter will be even worse for AMD, one has to start wondering if they will make it to year end as “AMD” or if Zen will even make it to market next year as planned.
Zen? I suggest you to forget
Zen? I suggest you to forget about Zen…..
Cause….I read somewhere AMD CEO said the company is planning to withdraw from PC market due to weaker pc demand.
I cant recall where I read about it.Hmm….
Found the
Found the article.
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/techflash/2015/06/exclusive-amd-ceo-talks-of-long-term-turnaround.html
You mean this? “As we look
You mean this? “As we look forward I think PCs will continue to be an important piece of our business but there are other pieces of our business that can really grow”
They have enough cash on hand
They have enough cash on hand to last a good while past Zen’s release date, and if you think Apple is going to let M$ buy AMD, or Samsung for that matter, then just you study up. Apple is not going to let a major GPU supplier go down and be bought up by any rivals, and some of the companies you mentioned are already producing their own ARM based CPU/SOC products. I do not think that any entity already producing CPUs/SOCs should be allowed to buy AMD, as that will reduce competition in the marketplace. M$ should never be allowed to purchase AMD, that would be worse than Nuking AMD form orbit! It’s not likely that the US Justice Department would sign off on any acquisition that would reduce competition in the marketplace, especially with regards to AMD’s x86 cross license.
If Zen can produce the need IPC gains, while maintaining a comparable power draw with Intel’s SOCs, the ones that Apple uses, then AMD could be in more than just the GPU supplying business with Apple for Apple’s x86 based product, and AMD’s graphics are much better than Intel’s! Apple getting an AMD APU(Zen Based) with a GPU, and quite possibly with space/power saving stacks of HBM, well the pathological thin and light crowd at Apple could not/would not pass that up, or want any of Intel’s expensive SKUs! It’s not as if Apple buys Intel’s most powerful CPU cores, and AMD’s graphics with Zen cores, topped of with the motherboard space savings, to go along power savings of the lower clocked much wider data path to HBM just screams potential Apple business.
Certainly AMD is not attractive to the stock market or its shareholders at the moment, and maybe AMD needs to be taken private and the stock holders bought out, and the whining will stop from the financial sector. AMD should be taken private and then the longer term turnaround could happen, and without all the shortsighted short term eyes of some in the investment community! AMD could do its work and the unenlightened eyes will be off of AMDs every quarterly move up or down. Once the turnaround happens then a new IPO, and a return to the three ring circus that is the publicly traded market.
You haven’t been paying
You haven’t been paying recent attention. Intel just surpassed AMD on integrated graphics by a 20% margin, and Intel’s graphics core count is due to increase 50% on the Skylake chips. It’s better for AMD to collapse and split. Nvidia can take the CPU side and Intel can take the GPU side. That would be a far better competition balancer.
And Apple does buy Intel’s strongest SKUs and cores. The MBPr is still the only laptop using the 4980HQ.
Coupled with Intel advanced
Coupled with Intel advanced fabrication factory…..
And AMD partner Global Foundries that stagnated at 28nm……
Seem unlikely for AMD to catch up with Zen.
While yes, Crystal Well does
While yes, Crystal Well does have better graphics over AMD’s offerings, I think that is a pretty unfair comparison given the chip costs twice as much for that kind of bump. Building on that, I don’t know of anyone who would want to use an iGPU with an i7-class CPU anyway.
Not for the price, and
Not for the price, and definitely not for graphics applications, Intel’s GPUs are made for running only games with their low resolution meshes. For any graphics uses Intel’s graphics execution unit counts pale in comparison to AMD’s and Nvidia’s available execution resources. Crystal Well is not going to be on any of the lower cost SKUs, and AMD’s Carrizo will be much better overall for graphics workloads and the high polygon count meshes that go along with graphics work, and that includes the development of gaming models, those characters and scenes are done in high polygon count models and the High Polygon meshes are decimated down to low polygon meshes for the games. Those textures are rendered on high polygon meshes and then “baked” onto the low resolution models, and Intel’s anemic GPUs are not up to the overall tasks, and utility compared to AMD’s or Nvidia’s GPUs, you can have your Intel “Pro” graphics! Let’s see some high definition rendering workloads done on Intel GPUs, and I mean GPU rendering on the GPU of high resolution multi-million polygon meshes benchmarks, not going to best AMD or Nvidia, hell high resolution scenes bog down in the editor with Intel graphics(for lack of enough execution units counts), not so for AMD’s or Nvidia’s SKUs.
The 4980HQ is Haswell, and
The 4980HQ is Haswell, and what about the TSX instruction errata on that SKU! Apple uses the older model SKUs, and Haswell graphics is not that great, and does that Apple laptop SKU come with a discrete GPU?
While I agree with you that
While I agree with you that latest Broadwell took over IGP crown, you have to consider this is 14nm vs. 28nm, i.e. TWO process nodes. For illustration of the difference, compare GeForce 680 vs. 8800.
Now, AMD is getting access to 14/16nm next year – regardless whether it is Samsung, GloFo or TSMC. So (hopefully) for at least a year or so, they would have process parity (IF the foundries manage to prepare high-performance 14/16nm finfet). Especially Zen might shine in low-power devices, and Samsung ships 14nm low power node today.
I also thought about the nVidia/Intel split-up, but frankly speaking, that would be suicide for nVidia. Can you imagine them voluntarily going against:
1. Intel’s CPU team, being the one that has beaten all the RISC competition save for IBM’s POWER; and
2. AMD graphics division, now with Intel unrestrained for cash, and with Intel’s process technology to boot
And IBM just announced a
And IBM just announced a working 7nm(1) chip, with its technological partnership with Samsung and GlobalFoundries, and their academic partner. Those OpenPower licensed third party power8’s will be bringing the server market the same price savings that the ARM licensing has given the mobile market. I’m looking forward to seeing some laptop SKUs derived from the Power8 microarchitecture, talk about threads per core, and 14 execution pipelines per core to feed those 8 processor threads. AMD would do well after Zen, and along with its K12, to get a power8 license and bake some of its graphics into the design. Though I have my suspicion that Jim Keller’s K12 custom ARMv8 design may just borrow heavily from the Power8 playbook and get a custom ARM design with SMT, and a wide decoder front end and an even wider execution pipeline width behind to create the first ARM based APUs with SMT, for the consumer and server market! RISC designs like the Power8 can pack a lot more execution resources in the same space than the more space intensive CISC designs.
A lot of that 14nm innovation coming from Samsung and Global foundries was and is through the technological sharing partnership/foundation they have had with IBM’s research division. IBM, and the OpenPower licensees will be big users of Samsung and GlobalFoundries, and the consumer CPU/GPU market will benefit from the technology sharing!
(1) “Moore’s Law IN YOUR FACE! IBM says it’s cracked 7nm chips”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/09/ibm_cracks_7nm_barrier/
“While I agree with you that
“While I agree with you that latest Broadwell took over IGP”, At what price point for this “Graphics” that for a few gaming benchmarks have performed better against the non latest AMD or Nvidia Offerings, and no heavy other graphics non gaming benchmarks, where the SP and other execution resources that Intel skimps on are more important, and that AMD and Nvidia provide way above what Intel provides. Intel’s graphics is stopgap and insufficient for high end gaming, and Intel would have not even have been rushed into providing its “graphics” if it had not been for AMD’s APUs and integrated graphics.
i bet the people that are
i bet the people that are interested in amd ip are rubbing there hands together in glee as the share price will keep dropping and the buyout will become cheaper. its all most like waiting for a steam sale to score a big saving.
i am a mad fan but this is getting sad amd is only worth 2 billion as opposed to intel at 29.6 billion.
While we are on the subject
While we are on the subject of AMD’s APUs in laptops, ask yourselves this! Why is it so hard to find AMD APU based laptops with better than 1366 x 768 screen resolution. What influence on the OEMs is being applied now, like it has been in the past. What types of product pricing of de facto negatively/no profit priced parts is keeping the competition’s revenues down, to add to this the not so lively PC marketplace that currently exists. What types of professional FUDsters did one CPU/SOC monopolistic maker employ and get caught in the past doing so, among other illegal business practices, having to pay a gaga-bucks size fine and court settlement. Yes revenues are important to AMD or any company, but with a market so full of monopoly players so bent on loosing billions just to break into some markets, just what is going on with the AMD APUs and such crappy screen resolution, and no OEM options for an upgrade offered!
Let’s keep track of Carrizo based OEM laptop SKUs and see just what options are available on the laptops, relative to laptops with the competition’s comparable priced/powered CPU/SOC SKUs. There is large market of low powered thin and light laptops that are not using by any stretch of the imagination the big monopoly’s most powerful SKUs, so that argument in the thin and light marketplace just does not hold up for keeping the Carrizo SKUs down and out, why the lack of screen resolution options better than the lowest available!
Speaking of APU on laptop, I
Speaking of APU on laptop, I can only say AMD reap what the company sow.
AMD has reputation of PAPER launching product without the product being available to purchase.
The FX-7600P is available in very limited quantity or none at all.
The desktop kaveri A8-7600 was paper launched for 8 months.
AMD didnt bother to revise the price after a8-7600 started appearing in market.
By the time a8-7600 actually available for sales, one can purchase intel core i3-4330 at similar price.
“While we are on the subject
“While we are on the subject of AMD’s APUs in laptops, ask yourselves this! Why is it so hard to find AMD APU based laptops with better than 1366 x 768 screen resolution.”
I’d argue that AMD’s APUs target a very specific part of the product matrix where customers are largely not willing or able to pay anything beyond bottom dollar and that any BOM increase, however small, is only going to lead to significant volume losses.
I am because the graphics on
I am because the graphics on the chip is better than Intel’s for graphics workloads, in addition to just good for gaming. I want the option for higher screen options available on Carrizo based laptop SKUs and Intel investigated if there are no OEMs offering higher screen resolution upgrade options for Carrizo based laptops. Carrizo has got more graphics execution resources than the Intel SKUs, and Blender 3d cycles rendering is now available for AMD CGN based SKUs.
I will be looking for a top end Carrizo based laptop SKUs full wattage, because the integrated GPU has enough SP/Other resources for Blender editing of 3d mesh models, I’d like to have better screen options, and there is no OEM logical excuse for not offering it! Intel needs to be watched for its business practices with OEMs! Hopefully there will be Carrizo options that come with the APU’s graphics and an AMD discrete GPU, so I can have even more available GPU resources for rendering.
Edit: CGN
to: GCN
Edit: CGN
to: GCN
“This is disappointing news
“This is disappointing news for fans of AMD, of course.”
Why? The past 20 years have been full of some form of doom and gloom regarding AMD and they keep managing to stay in business and innovate. Everyone keeps pointing to launches of new products with disdain due to overhyped expectations, but the reality is that AMD is still managing to be financially viable to the people that matter most – the shareholders.
The shareholders that are in
The shareholders that are in it for the short term do not matter, in fact they hurt more than help. The long term investors that can properly analyze AMD’s position and not worry about one or two quarters of revenue reductions are what is needed. I’ll go with taking AMD private, and letting AMD work through yet another rumored period of imminent demise. A private equity fund with long term investors as a rule and not an exception, that will definitely be able to see HBM, and the Zen and K12 projects under Jim Keller, and AMD’s leadership in the HSA foundation, and unique position in the x86 market, gaming console or otherwise! This includes the K12 custom ARMv8a ISA running core microarchitecture’s market potential to lead with an custom ARMv8a ISA based APU and GCN/whatever new graphics. AMD by necessity does not have the resources to get its x86 products engineered for as low power usage as the ARM competition, and why should they! AMD will be able to take on the ARM competition with some Custom ARM APUs of its own, and add to that ARM based APU AMDs graphics, and no other custom ARM product on the market will ship with AMD’s latest graphics cores, the K12 market potential is not being discussed, but that is something that will become very important post Zen’s RTM.
These private equity funds that take publically traded companies private are much different than the average publically traded corporation’s investors, and gamblers in the boiler rooms trying to short or long, and make a quick buck with little care in the long term viability of AMD.
But, but…….the APU is
But, but…….the APU is going to change the world. And Fury has HBM. And, and……next year, wait until you see what’s coming next year.
Same old AMD. 😀
Coming right now lower prices
Coming right now lower prices for the Nvidia parts dew to the arrival of Fury, and in fact the low pricing on the latest Nvidia SKUs were strategically lowered and released earlier to counter AMD’s competition. Keep that competing and innovating going strong and at furious pace from even the market milkers at Nvidia. HBM IS in the here and now, and Nvidia is ringing the same HBM bell, late to the party. AMD has the jump on HBM, it will have the drop in jump on HBM2, as soon as the HBM chips come hot from the oven, a lot of AMD’s current charges against expenses relate to logical technology moves to better position them for the future, and AMD does damn will for being on its death bed over the years.
If AMD goes under, PC market
If AMD goes under, PC market will become extremely boring with only two monopolies controlling it.
Bring on Sempron 2 to save
Bring on Sempron 2 to save our Canadian bacon! LOL
One can cheat death only some
One can cheat death only some many times.
CPU business is dragging down GPUs with it. Who is going to buy graphics card not knowing if there will be drivers available?
The performance per watt is
The performance per watt is out the door, for AMD. If they’d just design, good, low power, cool running chips, it’d be nice. You got Intel cranking out 5-10 times the performance, at a fraction of the TDP, across even it’s low end product lines.
For goodness sakes, if I had
For goodness sakes, if I had to choose between an i5 or even i3, in some cases, versus FX desktop processor line, I’d go Intel every time. There’s no reason having a power guzzling, heat throwing CPU that has more latency and less IPS. I want old AMD back. I want the AMD that designed the Phenom and gave everyone a heck of a deal on the “performance per dollar,” side of things.
Is AMD that dumb? the Pc
Is AMD that dumb? the Pc market is volatile … Really….. Well if they had some decent products to sell. It wouldn’t be doing so bad.
It’s like really crap food restaurants, that keep wondering why noone comes into there to eat.
The people owning the place thinks its the best thing since sliced bread. When all the CUSTOMERS keep screaming that their products suck, and the owners go ohh whatever you dont even like AMD anyway. you just like our competitors products.
This is seriously what I heard a GFX guy at AMD say on tech of tomorrow (the child molester looking guy who runs that channel really worries me)
AMD was in the exact same
AMD was in the exact same position in regards to share price in 2011 (Nov). No one is going to buy them out. They’d need $5B to do so. Cannot see too many companies doing that….
$5b is chump change to a
$5b is chump change to a private equity fund, take AMD private, and let their engineers continue to innovate and produce products that compete. Zen’s microarchitecture does not have to outright beat Intel’s IPC in order to win lots of sales for AMD, it just has to be in the ball park, and AMD’s graphics will do the rest, top that off with an APU that uses HBM memory and saves motherboard space, and even Apple will come a calling!
There is great potential in what AMD has done with HBM, and what Jim Keller’s design teams are doing wit Zen, and K12. AMD’s custom business is winning new contracts with Samsung, and it has the 2 biggest gaming console makers business. Apple could certainly through a private equity fund invest in AMD without to much government scrutiny, along with some of the larger OEMs and others interested in keeping AMD innovating. Take it private, and get the short term investors who are crying out of the way of the innovation process that AMD is trying to bring to completion.
Any private equity fund with any market knowledge can see AMDs long term value, and in more than just Gaming, especially now that the computing market is not just all about x86 based product, its ARM, and its going to be power8 based too, licensed power8 based from OpenPower, and AMD has the engineering knowhow, to build ARM, x86, and power8 based APUs/CPUs with AMD’s GPU/GPU accelerators, and there will be more money in the integrating of graphics IP, with any licensable CPU ISA IP, that includes ARM, and Powre8 based systems with AMD graphics/GPGPU acceleration.
AMD has a proven track record with the console makers, and the embedded controller market. The Server market needs more competition with ARM, and Power8 systems as licensable IP to be integrated with AMD’s GPUs as accelerators and this is something to be considered, AMD could find itself making more on providing its integrating services and IP, to companies that need GPU acceleration baked into Power8, or ARM, in addition to its x86 clients. K12 custom ARMv8, could lead to a licensed power8 based APU system very easily, even if just for a custom client’s order, AMD needs to get beyond ambidextrous and provide integration services with any and all Licensable CPU ISAs that ability alone will see AMD to a more prosperous future. Take AMD private and let the clowns worry about the short term!
I came here for the h8.
I came here for the h8.
Then you really will like
Then you really will like WCCF Tech. All trolls all the time, they’ve got middle-earth’s entire complement of trolls there, enjoy the vitriol, bring lots of popcorn!