Why hasn't Apple acquired AMD?

[koyoot]

I've been buying Silicon Valley real estate - and I'm smiling.

Good for you, congrats

 

[deconstruct60]

And if you engage the brain cells that are often idle - you'd realize why AMD split the ATI group off to a separate division.*

It let's you sell the two pieces separately, and the ATI group will have value even if the AMD side collapses due to the lack of the x86 license.

Graphics hasn't been spun out into a subsidiary. That's an organization change not a "prep to spin out" change. It should help to keep the "activist investor" ding-dongs at bay while they get AMD back on track. Parts of the GPU folks were buried too far inside of the CPU side. The GPU has to do both: iGPU and dGPU. To do that rationally with some balance need to be out independently. AMD can't afford one group doing on design to max iGPU and another substantially separate track off ding dGPU. That has to be some shared core elements and some not so shared elements. Can't make the call buried completely inside one or the other sides.

In short, the org change is far more about not shooting themselves in the foot than of "make money fast" Wall Street sell out.

A GPU less graphics company isn't in much better shape than AMD is now. Who is a major healthy CPU-less GPU vendor? .... Nobody. Could spin GPU only out to be a Matrox like player but ..... that isn't going to pay off the $2B in debt that AMD has racked up. Part of what dug this hole for AMD in the first place was over paying for ATI. Overvaluing the asset again is exactly the kind of goofiness that has kept AMD in the hole.

 

[BB8]

I find it really hard to get excited about AMD being king of cheap mid range gpu's. I would think that is the worst segment to be in, and is rapidly being eaten away by mobile, consoles etc. How many people actually know enough to sink money into desktop graphics, but are also willing to settle for mid range performance? Especially with VR and high resolution displays on the horizon.

 

[deconstruct60]

I find it really hard to get excited about AMD being king of cheap mid range gpu's. I would think that is the worst segment to be in, and is rapidly being eaten away by mobile, consoles etc.

If AMD's market research is correct; not true. And sub $100 is "cheap". AMD is aiming at the bulk of the bell curve.

about slide 11 here http://www.anandtech.com/show/10424/a-bit-more-on-amds-polaris-gpus-36-16-cus
Why does it take 10 slides to get to the major "punch line" ? ... I have no idea. ( that must of been animated "whiz through" slides. ). That other 16% is the far more profitable part, but AMD needs to get to breakeven before start worrying about some "print money" scheme.

In short, what AMD is trying to aim at is bring the "old" high end down to the point where people can actually afford ... as opposed to just lust after. The "old" bottom end is disappearing so bring the old top down and spread it out more broadly. Not chase the bottom end.

(although in terms of consoles ... AMD has the pretty much covered too. That area isn't a problem a problem now and shouldn't be next couple of years either. )

How many people actually know enough to sink money into desktop graphics, but are also willing to settle for mid range performance? Especially with VR and high resolution displays on the horizon.

There is a bigger block of people not going anywhere, but it is far easier to start out with the folks who are moving/buying.

With the huge installed base of PCs that can't drive a VR or utra high res display ..... they need new cards. AMD is looking to make them more in reach. Even folks moving from 1080p to 4K ( or very high FreeSync frame rates). There is a slide that points out that 95+ % of gamers are still down on 1080p ( for all the yelping about " 4K is old news it is 5K or bust" in these forums. )

The fanboy lead flame wars online would lead you not to believe it is because over represented with folks who do spend sizable amounts of money, but if is look at larger user population get something closer to:

The GPU more affordable doesn't completely cure this for VR. However, they could get more folks off of being stuck at 1080p . Move card now... buy VR later when the hype tax isn't as high (and/or have more money).


Talking about this stuff isn't AMD's problem. It is shipping and execution. VR isn't going to save AMD short and medium term. Most potential buyers don't have the budget to move even if want to. IMHO, whether the 470 and 460 ( not aimed at VR) do well or not is going to mean difference in turning around.

 

[koyoot]

If AMD's market research is correct; not true. And sub $100 is "cheap". AMD is aiming at the bulk of the bell curve.

It is way better to sell 350 thousand GPUs for up to 300$, than to sell 20 thousand GPUs for 700$.

 

[antonis]

It is way better to sell 350 thousand GPUs for up to 300$, than to sell 20 thousand GPUs for 700$.

Hmm...but it's even better to sell on both markets. At least in the long run, and especially if the former market is on a greater decline than the latter.

 

[koyoot]

Hmm...but it's even better to sell on both markets. At least in the long run, and especially if the former market is on a greater decline than the latter.

Not exactly when your mainstream cards after OC are able to compete with high-end GPUs of your competitor, and cost half as much.

RX 480 is on 140W GPU with 1400 MHz core clock, and is on par with GTX 1070. And there will be versions of this GPU that will exceed 1600 MHz on cores and 10000 MHz on memory. Even if this GPU will be drawing 180W from the wall, and be within 10-15% of GTX 1080 it will be much better buy at 299$ than GTX 1080 at 699$.

 

[Stacc]

Not exactly when your mainstream cards after OC are able to compete with high-end GPUs of your competitor, and cost half as much.

RX 480 is on 140W GPU with 1400 MHz core clock, and is on par with GTX 1070. And there will be versions of this GPU that will exceed 1600 MHz on cores and 10000 MHz on memory. Even if this GPU will be drawing 180W from the wall, and be within 10-15% of GTX 1080 it will be much better buy at 299$ than GTX 1080 at 699$.

I have a tough time believing it will clock so high consistently. If it has this much headroom why would AMD intentionally gimp their cards by giving them such low clocks out of the box?

 

[MH01]

The rumour is that most of Apple's desktop machines will move to ARM. The most top end iMac and MacBook Pro model will stay x86 for compatability with traditional apps not yet ported to ARM. So iOS will become a desktop operating system for most models.

I predict OS X x86 will be made available to be installed on any PC to compete against Windows directly. Kext signing, non EFI cards, free operating system, and Metal are important parts of this to ensure competitiveness against Windows. This groundwork has now been laid.

This will happen in around 2 years when iOS is ready to move to the consumer and office desktop environment. There will be no more Mac Pro from that point on.

For developers of both iOS and OS X it will mean much greater opportunities. For Apple it means they can concentrate on consumer products and revenue from their online stores.

They don't need to invest money on AMD. They already have laid the foundation for a lot of growth to come.

This makes sense. Apple can focus on what makes them the most money, consumer products and services around those. They can go the way of Sony

 

[koyoot]

I have a tough time believing it will clock so high consistently. If it has this much headroom why would AMD intentionally gimp their cards by giving them such low clocks out of the box?

To get efficiency appeal . That is what I think. I do not know the real reasons why AMD would do this. Second thought is that they have THAT bad PR and marketing department.

Yeah, that may be the case...

 

[Stacc]

To get efficiency appeal . That is what I think. I do not know the real reasons why AMD would do this. Second thought is that they have THAT bad PR and marketing department.

Yeah, that may be the case...

I think a more likely scenario is that they don't actually clock that high or at least not consistently. Reviews should hit tomorrow so we will find out soon enough.

 

[G-News]

Thinking that the superclocked 480s will still retail for 299$ is naive. If they're going to compete with 1080 gtx, they will also get closer in price. Say 329-350$

 

[ActionableMango]

And if you engage the brain cells that are often idle - you'd realize why AMD split the ATI group off to a separate division.

Your personal insult about my brain cells is not helpful for the conversation. I respect you, and I don't know why we are suddenly on bad terms.

I suppose Apple could buy AMD GPU division, but the original post which sets the context for the thread (and what I was referring to) specifically mentions AMD x86 CPU, not just AMD GPU. So my point still stands--Apple cannot buy AMD for x86 CPU.

 

[AidenShaw]

Your personal insult about my brain cells is not helpful for the conversation. I respect you, and I don't know why we are suddenly on bad terms.

My sincere apologies for the unintended insult - my point was meant to be "you" plural, meaning all of us. I'm sorry that it could be easily interpreted as "you" singular.

We all have unused brain cells , and some of us have been through mergers and splits - and are suspicious of corporate restructuring that would make it easier to split a company up.

 

[ActionableMango]

My sincere apologies for the unintended insult - my point was meant to be "you" plural, meaning all of us. I'm sorry that it could be easily interpreted as "you" singular.

We all have unused brain cells , and some of us have been through mergers and splits - and are suspicious of corporate restructuring that would make it easier to split a company up.

Oh my apologies then for misunderstanding and getting overly defensive.

 

[smoledman]

Now that AMD is killing it with Ryzen, Apple should buy them. Probably for $17 billion, chump change.