By: anon (an.delete@this.n.net), October 28, 2020 3:43 pm
Room: Moderated Discussions
defaltluser (no.delete@this.thanks.net) on October 28, 2020 2:46 pm wrote:
> anon (anon.delete@this.anon.anon) on October 27, 2020 8:52 pm wrote:
> > There is another cost to mergers / acquisitions, and that is focus. Intel is in more
> > desperate straits now and thus is forced to focus, while AMD doesn't have that sort
> > of pressure at this time, so buys Xilinx and thus spreads itself around more, losing
> > focus. Unless there is clear synergistic advantage, mergers should NOT happen.
>
> Intel is divesting Flash because 3D Xpoint has made it redundant. Also the western phone
> market is saturated even before Covid (and flash prices have cratered afterward).
>
> Intel are not divesting their 5-year-old investment in Altera, because there is benefit
> in adding built-in programmable cores to compute processors. If Intel thinks there is
> value there, then AMD buying it's big brother would tend to make a lot of sense.
>
Intel and AMD also believed there was value in "GPGPU", so Intel started developing Larrabee and AMD acquired ATI, but in the end both Larrabee and HSA failed.
> This isn't going to be completely mishandled like the ATI merger (e.g. glossing-over
> the 5 years it would take to merge ATI's bulk CMOS libraries with AMD's SOI libraries?)
> They also don't have to raise 4 Billion just to make the purchase.
>
AMD acquired ATI during the height of the K8 era, when they still had money and their stocks were high, ie, before Core2, K10 and Bulldozer happened.
> It's going to take them awhile to see a return on Investment, but it will eventually
> happen...in the meantime they will not be sitting in mountains of debt.
>
> >
> >
> >
> > Björn Ragnar Björnsson (bjorn.ragnar.delete@this.gmail.com) on October 27, 2020 4:03 pm wrote:
> > > Well, it's official Xilinx is merging with AMD. The rumors have been circulating a while and when
> > > I became aware of them my first thought was basically WTF? Having very little knowledge of what
> > > Xilinx offers I dipped my toes ever so slightly into what they bring to the industry and was in
> > > a relatively short period of time somewhat relieved that the merger could have some potential.
> > >
> > > This morning I listened to Lisa Su talking about how these
> > > companies fit together and her arguments were aligned
> > > with my thinking, which is not necessarily reassuring. The problem is that she knows and I don't.
> > >
> > > Let's face it, AMD has for the last half decade been run by very, very, very smart people. No way could the
> > > chiplet approach have been an easy sell do bet the dying company on. The mind boggles at the hurdles that
> > > had be overcome, technical, managerial & political (company politics). For sure AMD was in dire straits so
> > > some of the momentum of these developments was in all likelihood forced. But it's paying off in spades.
> > >
> > > Xilinx appears to have advanced products in various cutting technologies, networking,
> > > ai, automotive, accellerator (FPGA, ACAP). Sectors where AMD's presence is not felt
> > > in any earthshaking way. In those fields the field is not subtractive.
> > >
> > > Excuse the long winded intro. One of the later questions to Lisa Su today was the
> > > one I'm pretty sure we're all most interested here: What are the possibilities combining/merging
> > > the technologies of AMD and Xilinx into new unique products?
> > >
> > > This is a deep question which can only be answered by someone with much
> > > more than a cursory knowledge of the respective companies tech.
> > >
> > > Lisa's answer was predictably vague, at a guess for legal and competitive reasons.
> > >
> > > I like to consider myself as quite knowledgeable about the AMD side but I'd be surprised if some
> > > of the RWT regulars isn't cognizant of the technical issues on both sides of the merger.
> > >
> > > Let's say that AMD and Xilinx are running thriving and viable business. After the merger they can continue
> > > to do so but in my mind the really interesting question is: What are the technical synergies behind
> > > the deal? Are the people that created and sold management the whole Ryzen concept on board?
> > >
> > > Any thoughts appreciated.
> >
> >
>
>
> anon (anon.delete@this.anon.anon) on October 27, 2020 8:52 pm wrote:
> > There is another cost to mergers / acquisitions, and that is focus. Intel is in more
> > desperate straits now and thus is forced to focus, while AMD doesn't have that sort
> > of pressure at this time, so buys Xilinx and thus spreads itself around more, losing
> > focus. Unless there is clear synergistic advantage, mergers should NOT happen.
>
> Intel is divesting Flash because 3D Xpoint has made it redundant. Also the western phone
> market is saturated even before Covid (and flash prices have cratered afterward).
>
> Intel are not divesting their 5-year-old investment in Altera, because there is benefit
> in adding built-in programmable cores to compute processors. If Intel thinks there is
> value there, then AMD buying it's big brother would tend to make a lot of sense.
>
Intel and AMD also believed there was value in "GPGPU", so Intel started developing Larrabee and AMD acquired ATI, but in the end both Larrabee and HSA failed.
> This isn't going to be completely mishandled like the ATI merger (e.g. glossing-over
> the 5 years it would take to merge ATI's bulk CMOS libraries with AMD's SOI libraries?)
> They also don't have to raise 4 Billion just to make the purchase.
>
AMD acquired ATI during the height of the K8 era, when they still had money and their stocks were high, ie, before Core2, K10 and Bulldozer happened.
> It's going to take them awhile to see a return on Investment, but it will eventually
> happen...in the meantime they will not be sitting in mountains of debt.
>
> >
> >
> >
> > Björn Ragnar Björnsson (bjorn.ragnar.delete@this.gmail.com) on October 27, 2020 4:03 pm wrote:
> > > Well, it's official Xilinx is merging with AMD. The rumors have been circulating a while and when
> > > I became aware of them my first thought was basically WTF? Having very little knowledge of what
> > > Xilinx offers I dipped my toes ever so slightly into what they bring to the industry and was in
> > > a relatively short period of time somewhat relieved that the merger could have some potential.
> > >
> > > This morning I listened to Lisa Su talking about how these
> > > companies fit together and her arguments were aligned
> > > with my thinking, which is not necessarily reassuring. The problem is that she knows and I don't.
> > >
> > > Let's face it, AMD has for the last half decade been run by very, very, very smart people. No way could the
> > > chiplet approach have been an easy sell do bet the dying company on. The mind boggles at the hurdles that
> > > had be overcome, technical, managerial & political (company politics). For sure AMD was in dire straits so
> > > some of the momentum of these developments was in all likelihood forced. But it's paying off in spades.
> > >
> > > Xilinx appears to have advanced products in various cutting technologies, networking,
> > > ai, automotive, accellerator (FPGA, ACAP). Sectors where AMD's presence is not felt
> > > in any earthshaking way. In those fields the field is not subtractive.
> > >
> > > Excuse the long winded intro. One of the later questions to Lisa Su today was the
> > > one I'm pretty sure we're all most interested here: What are the possibilities combining/merging
> > > the technologies of AMD and Xilinx into new unique products?
> > >
> > > This is a deep question which can only be answered by someone with much
> > > more than a cursory knowledge of the respective companies tech.
> > >
> > > Lisa's answer was predictably vague, at a guess for legal and competitive reasons.
> > >
> > > I like to consider myself as quite knowledgeable about the AMD side but I'd be surprised if some
> > > of the RWT regulars isn't cognizant of the technical issues on both sides of the merger.
> > >
> > > Let's say that AMD and Xilinx are running thriving and viable business. After the merger they can continue
> > > to do so but in my mind the really interesting question is: What are the technical synergies behind
> > > the deal? Are the people that created and sold management the whole Ryzen concept on board?
> > >
> > > Any thoughts appreciated.
> >
> >
>
>
