For a very long time, AMD’s presence in the DIY PC and server market share fell down much quicker than the apple falling from a free. The company did a lot of shuffling from time to time- from rebranding of its AMD series, a series of layoffs and series of deficiencies. None of it which worked. This resulted in the company’s worth being significantly lesser than US$4.5 Billion, an amount that it was used to acquire ATi in 2006. The end result is obvious, of which the company showed no roadmap for its aged FX series standalone processors and its Kaveri APUs. Speaking of which they’ve released some of the newer SKUs, but nothing really new to note down.
It’s also known that the team pissed off multiple review websites. Fellow tech websites like the Tech Report, HardOCP and TechPowerUp! never received the R9 Nano until they’ve shot their own foot. Furthermore, AMD VP Roy Taylor took a jab at Scott Wasson of The Tech Report and Tarun Balraj of TechPowerUp! insinuating that the websites are not fair. Things didn’t go well, and AMD decided to send review sample anyways.
On a similar note, I did contact AMD India’s PR who gave the usual generic response as expected. It should be noted that its PR agency had someone who told few other journalists that They didn’t want me around’ at the time when they flew in bloggers for a VR demonstration in Goa on October 2014. Upon confrontation, AMD did say that they do not have the same views. The difference in philosophy is not a good sign and ultimately it creates a large amount of doubt about its products.
As of now, AMD is showing a sign of change. The company said it will break up its CPU and GPU business units, therefore creating ‘Radeon Technologies’ where Raja Koduri will be taking care of virtual reality and augmented reality. Whether this change will be for the best is something that remains to be seen.
AMD is rumoured to be in talks with a private equity firm to sell off 20% share to Silver Lake. There are also rumours that Microsoft is talking to AMD ‘for a while’ about a possible buyout. But all rumours of buyouts, usually it’s either always ‘in the talks’- or it’s a talk that never really happened. If Microsoft does acquire AMD, Sony will have to go processor shopping yet again for its PlayStation business unit.
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