Among the CD Freakers, AMD CPU's are quite popular. Because of their high speeds, low prices and good overclockability most people can't stand the temptation.
A bad thing is that due to the low prices and the economic crisis in the IT world, AMD got some financial problems..
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday said it plans to close two of its manufacturing plants, and cut roughly 2,300 jobs, as it continues to struggle with slack demand and increased price competition from market leader Intel. |
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said it will close its two chip making plants in Austin, Texas, and lay off their 1,000 employees. The remaining 1,300 job reductions will come from its operations in Penang, Malaysia, AMD said.
AMD runs a distant second to Intel in the market for PC microprocessors and flash memory chips. The company, whose Athlon and Duron line of processors have been pecking away at Intel's market share, has been especially hard hit by a protracted slump in demand for flash memory chips and intense price competition in the PC processor market.
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What I think of this? I think it's a bad thing. I expect AMD can design a new chip, way faster then Intel's Pentium 4, but their lack of money stands in the way. Even worse is, that every succes Intel makes, AMD looses a bit. As Intel still being the marketleader but getting quite some competition from AMD, this may lead to a monopoly position for Intel. And we all know that's bad for any potential customer because prices will increase...
In my opinion, there are only 2 things AMD can do right now. At first, they'd better release CPU's with the same or higher clockspeeds then Intel's P4 for lower prices. In second place, releasing their Hammer CPU's some months earlier may save them (AMD 64bit is expected to beat Intel 64bit all the way..)..
Well, let's just wait and see, I just don't want to go back to Intel again...
Source: CNN
