AMD Strategy Transformation Brings Agile Delivery of Industry-Leading IP

[btarunr]

At its annual Financial Analyst Day, AMD (NYSE: AMD) detailed a new "ambidextrous" strategy that builds on the company's long history of x86 and graphics innovation while embracing other technologies and intellectual property to deliver differentiated products.

AMD is adopting an SoC-centric roadmap designed to speed time-to-market, drive sustained execution, and enable the development of more tailored customer solutions. SoC design methodology is advantageous because it is a modular approach to processor design, leveraging best practice tools and microprocessor design flows with the ability to easily re-use IP and design blocks across a range of products.

"AMD's strategy capitalizes on the convergence of technologies and devices that will define the next era of the industry," said Rory Read, president and CEO, AMD. "The trends around consumerization, the cloud and convergence will only grow stronger in the coming years. AMD has a unique opportunity to take advantage of this key industry inflection point. We remain focused on continuing the work we began last year to re-position AMD. Our new strategy will help AMD embrace the shifts occurring in the industry, marrying market needs with innovative technologies and become a consistent growth engine."

Roadmap Updates Focus on Customer Needs
Additionally, AMD today announced updates to its product roadmaps for AMD Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) products it plans to introduce in 2012 and 2013. The roadmap modifications address key customer priorities across form factors including ultrathin notebooks, tablets, all-in-ones, desktops and servers with a clear focus on low power, emerging markets and the Cloud.

AMD's updated product roadmap features second generation mainstream ("Trinity") and low-power ("Brazos 2.0") APUs for notebooks and desktops; "Hondo," an APU specifically designed for tablets; new CPU cores in 2012 and 2013 with "Piledriver" and its successor, "Steamroller," as well as "Jaguar," which is the successor to AMD's popular "Bobcat" core. In 2012, AMD plans to introduce four new AMD Opteron processors. For a more in-depth look at AMD's updated product roadmap, please visit http://blogs.amd.com.

Next-generation Architecture Standardizes and Facilitates Software Development
AMD also provided further details on its Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA), which enables software developers to easily program APUs by combining scalar processing on the CPU with parallel processing on the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), all while providing high bandwidth access to memory at low power. AMD is proactively working to make HSA an open industry standard for the developer community. The company plans to hold its 2nd annual AMD Fusion Developer Summit in June, 2012.

New Company Structure Strengthens Execution
In conjunction with announcing its restructuring plan in November 2011, AMD has strengthened its leadership team with the additions of Mark Papermaster as senior vice president and chief technology officer, Rajan Naik as senior vice president and chief strategy officer, and Lisa Su as senior vice president and general manager, global business units. These executives will help ensure that sustainable, dependable execution becomes a hallmark of AMD.

Visit the AMD Financial Analyst Day website for webcast replay, presentations, updated roadmap, and more.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[NC37]

Read and Papermaster...the dynamic duo of AMD. Knew they'd bet the farm on APU tech, just made sense. Now lets see how it will pay off with Trinity. Lot of high expectations...I know I have. But will it be enough to wake Intel up and get serious on graphics? Oooo I can't wait to find out. Exciting year ahead for laptops.

Tune in next week, same AMD time, same AMD channel!!

 

[joyman]

Yep. Laptops were something very expensive, very rare, now everybody has one. This market is growing so much, that soon people will throw the desktops when laptops get sufficient power and I like that AMD is pushing this way. Then we will need big monitor/tv, wireless keyboard/mouse and some sound equipment to make the laptop/tablet/netbook/ultrabook/ultratin to powerfull desktop. Great years are coming upon us. Hope mayans were mistaken lol.

 

[TheMailMan78]

I've been saying this for a while and some of the veterans on here said I was full of it. I still am but I was right about this. Towers are going the way of the ham radio. Tablets and laptops are the future.

 

[Red_Machine]

So does this still mean they won't be competing with Intel anymore?

 

[twilyth]

I've been saying this for a while and some of the veterans on here said I was full of it. I still am but I was right about this. Towers are going the way of the ham radio. Tablets and laptops are the future.

Desktops will always have their place since you simply can't get the same performance in a laptop. Heat dissipation is the main thing although as we hit smaller nodes like 22nm, that will certainly be less of a problem. I think the desktop market growth probably will stagnate though. And for the normal end user, certainly they can get by just fine with a powerful laptop - even if they do some heavy number crunching. But you're definitely correct in terms of where the growth will be. However I would still love to see AMD gain some server market share since that trickles down to people like me who do distributed computing like F@H and WCG.

 

[dir_d]

So does this still mean they won't be competing with Intel anymore?

In the high end performance they are not competing with Intel anymore. They are concerned with overall performance of the system as a whole.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Desktops will always have their place since you simply can't get the same performance in a laptop. Heat dissipation is the main thing although as we hit smaller nodes like 22nm, that will certainly be less of a problem. I think the desktop market growth probably will stagnate though. And for the normal end user, certainly they can get by just fine with a powerful laptop - even if they do some heavy number crunching. But you're definitely correct in terms of where the growth will be. However I would still love to see AMD gain some server market share since that trickles down to people like me who do distributed computing like F@H and WCG.

That's not true. They are getting to the point where heat and size a desktop is no longer needed. As development continues things will get smaller/cooler. Why have a desktop when a tablet will have the same horse power?

The desktop market has not only gone stagnant. Its shrunk and its a trend that's gonna continue.

 

[Steevo]

Its only shrunk as the needs of the normal user are farmville, facebook, sk ype and email. While mobile devices are good at these also most users still use a older desktop to do it. Once they die they will be back to walmart to buy another as battery life, cables and cords, and accessories still are a part of mobile devices.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Its only shrunk as the needs of the normal user are farmville, facebook, sk ype and email. While mobile devices are good at these also most users still use a older desktop to do it. Once they die they will be back to walmart to buy another as battery life, cables and cords, and accessories still are a part of mobile devices.

Exactly. Like I said desktops are now a hobby not a necessity. As gaming becomes more and more consolized its gonna kill the gaming PC needing to be a beast to run the latest. Its already happening.

 

[ivicagmc]

Until there are custom laptops like desktops I'm sticking with my desktop. Laptop lies dead under the desk because of dead motherboard. To get new one costs almost like new laptop. Because of us, enthusiasts, desktop will live for a long time, because we enjoy to build, to experiment and play with our hardware, and most important part, we are willing to pay for that.

 

[digibucc]

i don't understand the question? of course things will continue to get smaller and more intricate, that's what happens with product design.

i mean what exactly are you saying mm? we are coming fast to a time when a computer that doesn't have an integrated display will no longer exist? or simply that desktops as we know them are changing?

they've been changing since the beginning. keeping in line with design changes, i'd say the only thing that definitively makes a desktop a desktop is that you have to plug a display in. i don't think those are going to go anywhere. though obviously they will be relegated to enthusiast circles, they will also have a definitive place in many other situations. not every computer is for individual personal use.

but these large metal towers? they will continue to change, and i do agree they will change more rapidly, to become smaller and more complicated

 

[TheMailMan78]

i don't understand the question? of course things will continue to get smaller and more intricate, that's what happens with product design.

i mean what exactly are you saying mm? we are coming fast to a time when a computer that doesn't have an integrated display will no longer exist? or simply that desktops as we know them are changing?

they've been changing since the beginning. keeping in line with design changes, i'd say the only thing that definitively makes a desktop a desktop is that you have to plug a display in. i don't think those are going to go anywhere. though obviously they will be relegated to enthusiast circles, they will also have a definitive place in many other situations. not every computer is for individual personal use.

but these large metal towers? they will continue to change, and i do agree they will change more rapidly, to become smaller and more complicated

Look Apple is rumored to be getting out of the tower market. There is a reason for that. They are going the way of the do do. No one is buying them anymore. Its becoming a niche market man. Windows 8 is a stepping stone. The writings on the wall man.

 

[digibucc]

again though, what exactly are you saying:

computers that need an external display will no longer exist
or
personal desktop computers will become rare.
or
something else?

i don't disagree with what you're saying, but to what end? i don't think the ability to buy computer parts and build your own is going to go away. a tower is just the incarnation , that can change and it doesn't mean desktops are no longer in existence.

apple sells preconfigured machines that the end user can't change much about (while adhering to the agreement) to me that's not what this is about. dell and gateway and apple not selling towers to every consumer does not mean to me that the desktop pc has died.

as long as i can buy a case and parts, and build my own - and have choices and options while doing so, then it's just a new version of the same thing.

 

[TheMailMan78]

again though, what exactly are you saying:

computers that need an external display will no longer exist
or
personal desktop computers will become rare.
or
something else?

i don't disagree with what you're saying, but to what end? i don't think the ability to buy computer parts and build your own is going to go away. a tower is just the incarnation , that can change and it doesn't mean desktops are no longer in existence.

apple sells preconfigured machines that the end user can't change much about (while adhering to the agreement) to me that's not what this is about. dell and gateway and apple not selling towers to every consumer does not mean to me that the desktop pc has died.

as long as i can buy a case and parts, and build my own - and have choices and options while doing so, then it's just a new version of the same thing.

As the market shrinks so will parts being developed for said market. That's simple economics. Less profit means less development. With this in mind companies will shift to more profitable markets.

The power will be in the more profitable market as that's were development will go. Tablets and laptops will become more powerful then desktops making them impractical to build/run. General use has already started to cause this. Just look at desktop market shares. Next up is the development shift which this news posts proves. Intel, AMD are not moving the GPU to the CPU die creating the APU for fun. They know what I am saying is the future.

Basically what I am saying is in a few years. Maybe 15 or so we all will be looking for a different hobby.

 

[twilyth]

That's not true. They are getting to the point where heat and size a desktop is no longer needed. As development continues things will get smaller/cooler. Why have a desktop when a tablet will have the same horse power?

The desktop market has not only gone stagnant. Its shrunk and its a trend that's gonna continue.

Sorry but you're wrong. It has declined since 2008, but what else happened in 2008? Remember the recession? Up until 2008 it had grown but growth was anemic. That anemic growth will continue. See table 1.2

http://www.etforecasts.com/products/ES_pcww1203.htm

 

[Octavean]

It seems a little like saying “we cant win playing football lets go play some baseball”.

If they keep this up AMD may find themselves quoting Cartman from South Park, “screw you guys, I’m going home”. In this case, “I’m going home” means closing up shop and going chapter 11.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Sorry but you're wrong. It has declined since 2008, but what else happened in 2008? Remember the recession? Up until 2008 it had grown but growth was anemic. That anemic growth will continue. See table 1.2

http://www.etforecasts.com/products/ES_pcww1203.htm

Look at tablet 1.1 market segments. Shows a decline in desktops by 2015.

Tablet 1.2 shows company sales. Sales that include laptops and tablets. Under that is the quote....

The success of the iPad is rapidly making Apple a contender for the top unit sales slot by 2012. In the current forecast Apple's iPad and Macintosh PC will surpass HP's PC sales in 2012 or 2013

So if Apple is getting out of the tower segment and is about to beat out a top two vendor in sales what does that tell you?

 

[twilyth]

Look at tablet 1.1 market segments. Shows a decline in desktops by 2015.

Tablet 1.2 shows company sales. Sales that include laptops and tablets. Under that is the quote....



So if Apple is getting out of the tower segment and is about to beat out a top two vendor in sales what does that tell you?

That's sales by region. It doesn't break out desktops. That's in table 1.2 under section 1.1

If that's what you're talking about, I already said it has declined from 2008 and explained why.

If you're comparing to 2005, the 2015 projects are less, but those are projections. I think their numbers are probably conservative. Just look at the server numbers. With cloud computing, I'm willing to bet that 2015 number will be substantially higher.

edit: I was looking at the wrong column. If you compare 2015 to 2005 there is a small amount of growth NOT a decline. And as I said, even those numbers look conservative to me.

 

[TheMailMan78]

That's sales by region. It doesn't break out desktops. That's in table 1.2 under section 1.1

If that's what you're talking about, I already said it has declined from 2008 and explained why.

If you're comparing to 2005, the 2015 projects are less, but those are projections. I think their numbers are probably conservative. Just look at the server numbers. With cloud computing, I'm willing to bet that 2015 number will be substantially higher.

Servers sure. But with cloud computing you are gonna need WAY less desktop power. Computers will be more thermals then anything else. I'm willing to bet most gaming will be done streaming in the near future. There are already services being tested for exactly that. Hell I bet consoles will go that way soon. Cheaper and easier to control distribution. Also less reason to develop high end desktop component's.

Edit: That small growth screams market plateau.

 

[twilyth]

Servers sure. But with cloud computing you are gonna need WAY less desktop power. Computers will be more thermals then anything else. I'm willing to bet most gaming will be done streaming in the near future. There are already services being tested for exactly that. Hell I bet consoles will go that way soon. Cheaper and easier to control distribution. Also less reason to develop high end desktop component's.

Edit: That small growth screams market plateau.

As I said - stagnation. That's the only point I'm arguing with you.

I can certainly imagine people having a docking port for their smart phone and using that in place of a desktop or tablet. After all, you can't carry a 30" display around with you (not yet anyway). But I have no problem believing that a smart phone could replace the desktop for the average user.

 

[Octavean]

None of this is a definitive indication that AMD will continue be a relevant company. I applaud their APU initiatives but the traditional desktop isn’t dead yet and ARM is looking like a very big player. They could be caught between a rock and a hard place real fast.

AMD needs to outperform both Intel and ARM SoC with respect to CPU / GPU performance in the mobile space and do so within a more efficient power envelope.

I guess my point is, the question isn’t the direction the industry is going in but if AMD will remain healthy enough to get there,….

 

[TheMailMan78]

As I said - stagnation. That's the only point I'm arguing with you.

I can certainly imagine people having a docking port for their smart phone and using that in place of a desktop or tablet. After all, you can't carry a 30" display around with you (not yet anyway). But I have no problem believing that a smart phone could replace the desktop for the average user.

I guess. Anyway time will tell who was "right" if your cats haven't eaten your lifeless body by then we will meet back here in 15 years and say "Na, Na, Na, BOO, BOO" to each other.

None of this is a definitive indication that AMD will continue be a relevant company. I applaud their APU initiatives but the traditional desktop isn’t dead yet and ARM is looking like a very big player. They could be caught between a rock and a hard place real fast.

AMD needs to outperform both Intel and ARM SoC with respect to CPU / GPU performance in the mobile space and do so within a more efficient power envelope.

I guess my point is, the question isn’t the direction the industry is going in but if AMD will remain healthy enough to get there,….

Honestly the way the market is going AMD is way ahead of Intel until Intel gets a better APU.

 

[twilyth]

You should have more respect for your feline overlords. Anyway, one of them went back to the mothership. Well, he never came back from the vet so I can only assume.

 

[TheMailMan78]

You should have more respect for your feline overlords. Anyway, one of them went back to the mothership. Well, he never came back from the vet so I can only assume.

Sorry to hear that man. Ill pee in my backyard and cover it with saw dust in his honor. Anyway lets get back on topic.