14 DAY TRIAL // After confirming that it will be firing thousands of people, and that its revenue dropped significantly in the third quarter, AMD has outlined its plan for the next several years.
Before anyone has a chance to freak out, let us just say that Advanced Micro Devices isn't going to suddenly give up on the PC market. For that matter, it doesn't intend to leave it at all.
Nevertheless, it does feel that it needs to depend on it less, and more on the IT fields bound to increase in importance in the near to mid-term.
There are three fields: microservers, embedded applications (communications, industrial and gaming) and ultra-low power applications (ultrathin notebooks and tablets, even power socket mini PCs).
“Our long-term strategy is to rebalance our business towards faster-growing segments of the market. Today, approximately 85% of our business is focused on the legacy PC portion of the market, [which is] projected to have slowing growth over the next several years,” said Rory Read, chief executive officer of AMD, during a conference call with financial analysts.
“We intend to drive 40% to 50% of our portfolio to faster-growth markets where our IP is the key differentiator.”
AMD's plan fits recent events, like the release of the SM15000 microserver and the launch of the Z-60 Hondo accelerated processing unit. Tablets based on the low-power dual-core chip will be released this November (2012).
It is clear at this point that Advanced Micro Devices is trying to unbind its fate from that of Intel and the declining PC market as a whole. It is unfortunate that it has to fire people to do it though. At least the layoffs won't be as numerous as previously suggested.
“We will continue to focus on driving down into the ultraportable and ultra low-power form-factors that continue to grow rapidly. APUs are ideally suited for these new products, from ultra-thins and tablets to a new breed of entry-level notebooks that will drive growth in the emerging markets,” said Rory Read.