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AMD Seeks Preeminence on the AMD-Compatible Core-Logic Market

AMD plans to start creating platforms solely based on its own core-logic set in 2010 and aims to eventually stop relying on other chipsets altogether

Dec 3, 2009 09:32 GMT  ·  By
Becoming sole supplier of AMD-compatible core-logic sets will increase the chip maker's revenues and profits despite the decline in demand for AMD CPUs
   Becoming sole supplier of AMD-compatible core-logic sets will increase the chip maker's revenues and profits despite the decline in demand for AMD CPUs

As part of a response to a query set by Digitimes, Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's Graphics Products Group, said that, besides not planning to add more foundry partners, the company even aimed to eventually become the sole supplier of AMD-compatible chipsets. The query came as a result of the reported shortages that Advanced Micro Devices GPUs had been facing since the third quarter of 2009. Achieving such preeminence would enable the company to fully utilize the manufacturing capabilities of its joint venture with Advanced Technology Investment Company, namely the semiconductor manufacturer Globalfoundries.

Currently, NVIDIA chipsets are used in about 43% of AMD's total platform shipments. Until 2006, when the chip maker acquired ATI Technologies, this broad support of not just NVIDIA but also VIA and Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. chipsets was what AMD considered its main advantage over Intel Corp. However, now that the company has its own GPU business unit, AMD has changed its plans and seeks to establish a monopoly in the area of AMD-compatible core-logic sets.

“For its chipset business, Bergman noted that Nvidia's chipset currently has an about 43% share in AMD platform shipments, but the company's final goal is to see AMD's chipsets have 100% occupation on its own platform,” Digitimes reports.

SiS and Via Technologies halted the production of AMD-compatible core-logic sets several years ago and AMD plans to start releasing, in 2010, workstations and server platforms that would be exclusively based on its own core-logic set. Of course, the migration to 100% occupation would not be made instantly, but the company plans to eventually achieve it on all segments of the desktop market. Through this monopoly, Advanced Micro Devices would get increased revenues and profits, assisting the company in advancing, even despite the current decline in demand for AMD CPUs.

Intel is also likely to perform a similar transition, especially concerning its future processors with DMI or QPI busses, which is all the more reason for AMD to solidify its place in advance.