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Tuesday, June 18, 11:49 AM More on AMD: Though Seattle is dominating headlines, the company remains committed to the x86 server CPU market. Berlin, an x86 CPU platform due in Q114, will feature 4 cores based on AMD's next-gen Steamroller architecture, and will be offered as both a CPU and APU (integrated graphics), with the APUs being the first to offer uniform memory access for the chip's CPU and GPU. AMD promises big improvements in performance/watt. Also due in Q114 is Warsaw, an enterprise-class offering said to be ideal for Facebook's Open Compute Platform (previous). AMD has been bleeding share to Intel in the x86 server CPU space (PR) Comment! [Tech]
Tuesday, June 18, 11:35 AM AMD's first ARM-based server CPU, codenamed Seattle, will enter production in 2H14, the chipmaker announces. Seattle CPUs will feature 8 or 16 of ARM's (ARMH) high-end Cortex-A57 cores, with each running at 2GHz. or more. AMD claims the chips will "offer 3-4x the performance" of its new Opteron X-Series parts, and will integrate 10G Ethernet links and SeaMicro's Freedom Fabric tech. Seattle, aimed at the budding microserver market, will face competition from fellow ARM licensees AppliedMicro (AMCC +6.5% - appears to be rallying on the news), Marvell (MRVL), and startup Calxeda, and also Intel's Atom CPUs. Look for H-P to consider Seattle for its Moonshot server line. Comment! [Tech, On the Move]
Monday, June 17, 1:43 PM AMD (AMD +3.4%) further adjourns its annual meeting to July 12, to give shareholders more time to vote on Prop. 3, which aims to amend the chipmaker's 2004 equity incentive plan; the meeting was originally held on May 16. Among other things, Prop. 3 would increase the number of shares AMD could issue under the plan by 19.5M, and adjust the plan's definition of "performance goals." Shares continue to outperform in response to Barron's upbeat column. Comment! [Tech]
Monday, June 17, 9:23 AM AMD +4.6% after Barron's praises the chipmaker, arguing its SeaMicro server platform unit will help grow its share of an x86 server market where 96% of all hardware uses Intel's (INTC) CPUs (per IDC). SeaMicro, acquired in 2012, has developed innovative tech (.pdf) for linking hundreds of CPUs in a dense, low-power fabric that's well-suited for the "hyperscale" architectures embraced by Web/cloud firms, among others. The unit uses both AMD Opteron and Intel Atom CPUs, will eventually support ARM-based chips, and wants to license its tech to server OEMs. SeaMicro says it convinced Intel to supply it with Atom CPUs instead of costlier Xeon parts by arguing it "would sell [4x] as many Atom chips as Xeon chips, and that Intel would make [1.7x] the revenue as they would have with Xeon." 4 Comments [Tech, Quick Ideas, On the Move]
Monday, June 17, 9:11 AM Premarket gainers: OSH +47%. FRO +21%. KNDI +16%. LDK +8%. MNKD +5%. AMD +5%. DVAX +5%. NFLX +5%.
Losers: FOLD -29%. TEX -14%. MDVN -7%. Comment! [On the Move]
Tuesday, June 11, 7:17 PM AMD's new 8-core FX-9370 (4.7 GHz.) and FX-9590 (5 GHz.) desktop CPUs turn back the clock to the days when clock speeds were a huge deal. AMD claims the 9590 is the "first commercially available 5 GHz. CPU," and promises unmatched gaming/multimedia performance. Both chips use AMD's existing 32nm process and Piledriver architecture (launched in 2012). As AnandTech observes, AMD is countering the launch of Intel's (INTC) 22nm Haswell CPUs, which offer modest performance gains but big power savings, by heading in a very different direction. Chips based on Piledriver's sucessor, Steamroller, launch later this year; they'll use a 28nm process. 26 Comments [Tech]
Monday, June 10, 2:09 PM Apple (AAPL +0.5%) unveils new 11" and 13" Macbook Air models. Aided by Intel's (INTC +1.7%) low-power Haswell CPUs, Apple claims the 11" Air will get 9 hours of battery life, and the 13" model 12 hours. The 11" model goes for $999 (128GB) and $1199 (256GB), and the 13" model $1099 and $1299; they start shipping today. Also announced: a revamped Mac Pro that's 1/8 the size of the current model and supports dual AMD (AMD +2%) FirePro GPUs; new AirPort Wi-Fi access points; and new 2tB/3TB Time Capsule hard drives. "Can't innovate anymore my ***," exclaims VP Phil Schiller. (more on Apple) (live blog) (webcast) 12 Comments [Tech]
Friday, June 7, 1:01 PM Flooding in Dresden, Germany is leading AMD (AMD -1.1%) to fall on an up day: the chipmaker depends on a local fab (owned by Globalfoundries) for CPU/GPU production. Jefferies is defending AMD, arguing the flooding "poses a low risk." 1 Comment [Tech]
Wednesday, June 5, 6:38 PM "Many companies we met with in the PC food chain stated 2Q13 is tracking towards the low end of guidance," writes JPMorgan's Christopher Danely (previous), calling this a negative for Intel (INTC) and AMD. Danely also puts the ASP for Intel's Atom tablet CPUs at $25-$30 (a little above Morgan Stanley's $20), and the ASP for its notebooks CPUs at $110. Bernstein's Stacy Rasgon, meanwhile, thinks 2013 is beginning to resemble 2012, when Intel ramped Ivy Bridge production on hopes of a demand pickup, and was "forced to cut loadings and inventories" at year's end. He also estimates Intel's server CPU unit will need to grow 20%+ Y/Y in 2H to meet aggressive guidance. 7 Comments [Tech]
Thursday, May 30, 7:24 PM Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) gets a bump higher in the post session following positive comments from Alpha One's Dan Niles on CNBC's Fast Money. Niles said that Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One would be a strong driver for the chipmaker, and the shares could double over the next few years. (Video). Shares +0.7% AH. 6 Comments [Tech, On the Move]
Wednesday, May 29, 12:12 PM AMD tries to counter the 2012 launch of Intel's (INTC) S1200 (Centerton) Atom low-power server CPU line by launching its Opteron X-Series (codenamed Kyoto) CPUs. Like the S1200 line, the X-Series is aimed at the small but fast-growing microserver market - AMD's first two chips respectively consume 9W and 11W. AMD boasts its CPUs sport 4 cores to Intel's 2, and are also differentiated by superior throughput and their inclusion of GPU cores. However, Intel's upcoming Avoton CPUs will deliver big performance gains over Centerton. There's also plenty of competition from ARM (ARMH) server CPUs - AMD is hatching plans for its own ARM chips. The company's SeaMicro microserver unit supports a variety of CPU platforms. Comment! [Tech]
Tuesday, May 28, 6:14 PM Xbox One (MSFT) roundup: 1) Microsoft exec Yusuf Mehdi thinks 400M to "potentially upwards of a billion" next-gen consoles (the Xbox One and rival systems) could be cumulatively sold. "We think you can go broader than a game console," he adds, possibly hinting at an Xbox set-top. Microsoft has only sold 77M Xbox 360 units, and hopes to eventually hit 100M. 2) On top of the features shown off at last week's event, Microsoft claims the console will (via Kinect) be able to detect new faces in a room, and allow Skype contacts to remotely take over a game. 3) AMD's deal to supply a Jaguar CPU/GPU for the Xbox One is worth $3B+, per former AMD and current Nvidia exec Bob Feldstein. (previous) 3 Comments [Tech]
Tuesday, May 28, 1:22 PM IDC has again raised its tablet forecasts: the firm now expects shipments to grow 58.7% in 2013 to 229.3M units. That's up from a March forecast of 190.9M units, which itself was up from a forecast of 172.4M. 55% of shipments are expected to involve sub-8" tablets vs. 27% in 2012. With IDC estimating Q1 shipments rose 142% Y/Y to 49.2M, further hikes don't seem far-fetched. Meanwhile, following a 13.9% Y/Y drop in Q1, IDC now expects PC shipments to fall 7.8% Y/Y in 2013 to 321.9M, and predicts tablet sales will outpace PC sales by 2015. Revenue crossover could take longer, given IDC forecasts a 2013 tablet ASP of $381, and a PC ASP of $635. AAPL and GOOG must be pleased, MSFT, INTC, AMD, DELL, and HPQ less so. 16 Comments [Tech]
Tuesday, May 21, 1:15 PM Microsoft (MSFT) unveils the Xbox One, a 3rd-gen console it pitches as "the ultimate all-in-one entertainment system. The device has a rectangular, set-top box-like shape, a slightly bigger controller. a revamped Xbox Live UI, improved app/game loading and switching times, and fresh voice/gesture controls. AMD is widely believed to provide an integrated CPU/GPU for the system. (live blog) (previous) 53 Comments [Tech, Breaking News]
Thursday, May 16, 12:51 PM Midday top 10 gainers: EGLE +46%. NBG +24%. SBSA +23%. DQ +22%. GNK +19%. AEGR +19%. GLBS +17%. SINO +17%. PRGN +16%. LWAY +16%.
Midday top 10 losers: NCT -54%. SNFCA -22%. ONTY -21%. INFI -19%. CNIT -15%. CYCC -14%. PTSX -14%. AMD -13%. BDCO -11%. TRIT -11%. 2 Comments [On the Move]
Thursday, May 16, 9:34 AM AMD (AMD -12.9%) opens sharply lower on a downgrade to Sell from Goldman, which doesn't see the chipmaker's giant spring rally as justified. "As has been the case with many of the other rallies in AMD, which have all faded, ultimately, the numbers do not justify the move in the stock ... we expect continued disappointing results in the PC segment to mitigate the impact of increased revenue from gaming." Goldman upgraded AMD to Neutral last September, when shares were at $3.47. 5 Comments [Tech, On the Move, Quick Ideas]

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

AMD

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.