Amd: The Quest to Become The Next Intel

Advanced Micro Devices (traded on NYSE under AMD), the world’s second largest producer of microprocessors, has historically lagged behind the giant Intel, which commands about four-fifths of the international microchip market. After two decades of being the best-grounded and sure-footed company in Silicon Valley, Intel is having serious financial and strategic trouble. The company has called off a succession of high-profile projects, replaced its top management in money-losing ventures and is behind AMD in introducing new demanded technology including anti-virus and worm-fighting products. For what the New York Times predicts to be the most expensive holiday party of the year, Intel’s engineers have, ironically, assembled a disco ball for a corporate get-together made entirely out of leftover projection-television chips as the company cancelled plans to enter the digital television market after a flamboyant introduction just ten months prior. After suffering from a 25 percent decline in stock price this year, Intel’s new designated CEO Paul S. Otellini must gain the support of Wall Street, convincing analysts that the company is on a path to recovery. Intel plans to revise its tactics and expand its range of products, looking to start putting out complete computer systems after decades of just producing the chips.

While the Intel turmoil is ensuing, however, AMD has a genuinely unique opportunity to seize some of its giant competitor’s significant market share. AMD’s high-performance Athlon and Optitron chip families, for instance, are designed to compete directly with Intel’s long-trusted microprocessors in both the computing and consumer electronics markets. In fact, AMD’s eighth-generation 64-bit processors,