14 DAY TRIAL // I wasn't totally sure about writing this page since there are a lot of doomsday websites out there that have commented on AMD's situation on several occasions. However, some interesting details regarding AMD's business have caught my attention and I think that they are pretty important.
First, let me point out that AMD buying ATI may have been a good thing for the upcoming business but effectively it was an expensive move as AMD's profit has grown slowly in the 4th quarter of 2006 (3% higher than in the 3rd quarter) but because Ati's sales are currently going down the drain, the combined numbers suggest that AMD is not doing so well after all.
INTEL is selling 65nm CPUs for about a year now and AMD has just started its migration procedure. That takes a lot of time (at least 9 months from now on) so it leaves INTEL with enough headroom to roll out its first 45nm (Penryn) parts. Moreover, INTEL has totally won the performance war and they continue to launch cheaper and cheaper Core 2 Duos because they know that the CPU's perform better than AMDs do (in the same price range).
Currently, AMD can only offer a quad core system if they combine two dual core FXes while INTEL already has 9 quad cores that only use one package. On the other hand, AMD keeps the Crossfire line to itself and I have a feeling that future INTEL chipsets won't receive the Crossfire certification anymore.
I really don't know if AMD will keep on loosing ground but the coming of Barcelona might be the only thing that could keep them alive. The star cores are still far away and in the mean time, INTEL will probably launch its native quad cores and a new line of chipsets. Let's hope that Barcelona will do the trick. And don't forget about the R600.