AMD Buying ATI?

[Cherubim1324]

AMD poised to buy ATI for 5.5b? (http://gaming.engadget.com/2006/07/22/amd-poised-to-buy-ati-for-5-5b/)

Posted Jul 22nd 2006 8:33PM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/05/amdati.jpg
The rumor's been churning so long (http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/31/amd-to-buy-ati/) now it's starting to look legit -- remember what happened with Dell and Alienware (http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/22/dell-buying-alienware-for-undisclosed-price/)? It's looking especially probable that Bloomberg's got ahold of some inside information that says AMD is positioned to acquire ATI for 5.5 billion smackers. We know the big buyout rumor mongering is starting to sound redundant, but we'll all find out one way or another come Monday (http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/21/amd-and-ati-to-pitch-merger-to-shareholders-on-monday/) (or this week, anyway) when either AMD and ATI ink the deal, or the two companies continue to go it alone in their respective blood-wars on Intel (and to a lesser extent, NVIDIA).

P.S. -For what it's worth, the WSJ (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115352795892814271.html?mod= djemalert) also thinks the deal's about to go down.

[Thanks, Ben]

Advanced Micro May Buy ATI for About $5.5 Billion, Person Says (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKMaNU5doOIs&refer=home)

July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the world's second-biggest maker of microprocessors, plans to buy ATI Technologies Inc. for about $5.5 billion, according to a person involved in the negotiations.

A deal for Markham, Ontario-based ATI may be struck in the next few days, according to two people briefed on the discussions, who declined to be identified because the talks are confidential.

ATI is battling with Nvidia Corp. to be the No. 2 maker of computer-graphics chips behind Intel Corp. Buying ATI may help Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro in its efforts to keep taking market share from Intel, the world's largest semiconductor maker. The purchase would be the biggest in Advanced Micro's 37- year history and signal its commitment to challenging Intel.

``It may be a step AMD has to take,'' said Cody Acree, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Baltimore. He rates Advanced Micro shares ``hold'' and said he doesn't own them. ``They may be saying, `If I'm going to be an Intel equivalent, I need to be able to offer the market the things Intel can.'''

Dave Kroll, a spokesman for Advanced Micro, said the company doesn't comment on rumor or speculation. ``It's still a rumor to me and no one here can speculate on rumors,'' ATI spokesman Dave Erskine said.

Buying ATI would Advanced Micro to package graphics chips with its latest processors and get them to customers faster, Acree said.

Shares of Advanced Micro fell $3.39 cents to $18.26 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. ATI rose 83 cents to $16.56 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading.


To contact the reporter on this story:
Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 21, 2006 16:39 EDT

[[PhiberOpticks]]

They better keep the ATI team. That's my favorite video card company. Cuz I hate nVidea...despite the fact that their Quad SLI is better than Crossfire, but whatever.

[Night]

Good thing, I always mix them up, the A gets me every time... I don't think anybody from AMD would be replacing the ATI team, they do different shits.

[[PhiberOpticks]]

I think those companies work better in coordination, actually. When they do buy ATI, I am expecting to see more AMD/ATI based computers, as opposed to those damned AMD/nVidea models.

[Cherubim1324]

AMD Confirms Plans to Buy ATI (http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20060724/tc_pcworld/126512)

Peter Sayer and Sumner Lemon, IDG News ServiceMon
Jul 24, 9:00 AM ET

Advanced Micro Devices has agreed to buy Canadian graphics chip vendor ATI Technologies for around $5.4 billion in cash and stock, the companies announced today.

AMD (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/pcworld/tc_pcworld/storytext/126512/19755829/SIG=11pe4lv84/*http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,126355,00.asp) sees the merger as a way to offer integrated products for the mobile computing and consumer electronics markets, it said. From 2008 onwards, it intends to offer a new range of integrated processing and graphics chips for custom applications, it said.

The acquisition, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, would turn AMD into one of the world's largest providers of graphics chips. ATI reported net income of $31.9 million on revenue of $652.3 million during its fiscal third quarter, which ended on May 31. At that time, the company said revenue for the current quarter would be between $620 million and $690 million.

In the last fiscal year, a combined AMD and ATI would have made sales of around $7.3 billion, the companies said.

ATI and AMD expect to complete the deal in the fourth quarter, subject to approval of ATI shareholders and U.S. and Canadian regulators.

Product Plans

Rumors that AMD would buy ATI have circulated for a couple months. If approved, the deal will add significantly to AMD's product line, bringing in a lineup of cutting-edge graphics chips and chip sets that include integrated graphics capabilities. Chip sets are the component on a PC motherboard that link a processor with main memory and other components, such as a hard disk.

These additions to AMD's product line will help the company better match rival Intel, which offers its own line of chip sets with graphics capabilities. But the deal will likely threaten AMD's relationship with Nvidia, ATI's main rival in the graphics space and an important AMD partner.

AMD will take on new debt of around $2.5 billion to finance the deal. ATI has agreed to pay AMD a termination fee of $162 million if it backs out.

AMD buying ATI for $5.4 billion (http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/24/amd-buying-ati-for-5-4-billion/)

Posted Jul 24th 2006 9:05AM by Evan Blass
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Peripherals
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/07/amdati2.jpg
After months (http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/31/amd-to-buy-ati/) of (http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/21/amd-and-ati-to-pitch-merger-to-shareholders-on-monday/) speculation (http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/22/amd-poised-to-buy-ati-for-5-5b/), including a period when it looked like the supposed deal was surely dead (http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/07/amd-may-not-heart-ati-after-all/), AMD has now officially announced plans to buy graphics giant ATI for $5.4 billion. The sale, which is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter pending shareholder, regulatory, and court approval, will result in AMD paying $20.47 (in a mix of cash and stock) for each share of ATI. As you might expect, the news sent ATI's stock price skyrocketing, while shares of AMD dropped due to investor concern that the semiconductor manufacturer is overpaying for its purchase. AMD CEO Hector Ruiz cited his company's burgeoning (http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/18/dell-goes-amd-in-servers-at-least/) relationship (http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/26/dell-amd-partnership-is-supposedly-official/) with Dell (http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/14/analyst-confirms-amd-desktops-for-dell-in-september/) as one of the main reasons for the merger, as the newly-formed entity may now be able to snatch even more Dell business away from rival Intel. Some analysts, however, feel that the deal will have negative consequences in the short term, as it may distract both companies -- already struggling to compete on performance -- from pushing out innovative products in their respective categories. Still, the fact that AMD will now be able to offer integrated graphics solutions to PC manufacturers in the same manner as Intel should be enough to help it gain market share in the long run. Either way, we can't wait to see what the new company has in store for us...

[Thanks, Karl (http://www.aeroxp.org/)]

Advanced Micro Agrees to Buy ATI for $5.4 Billion (Update3) (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&refer=&sid=aajbR.zAAw98)

July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the world's second-biggest semiconductor maker, agreed to buy ATI Technologies Inc. for $5.4 billion, adding computer-graphics chips to its product lineup. ATI shares surged.

ATI stockholders will receive $20.47, including $16.40 in cash and 0.2229 Advanced Micro shares, for each ATI share, the companies said today in a statement. The offer is 24 percent more than ATI's closing price last week.

Advanced Micro Chief Executive Officer Hector Ruiz is making the biggest purchase in the company's history to help escalate his challenge to Intel Corp., which dominates the market for semiconductors. Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro is buying the largest maker of computer graphics chips for notebook computers, helping it win more orders from computer makers such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

``Strategically this deal makes sense in the long run,'' said Michiel Plakman, who manages about $10 billion in technology stocks at Robeco Group in Rotterdam, including shares of Advanced Micro Devices and ATI.

ATI shares jumped $2.62 to $19.18 at 8:04 a.m. in early trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Advanced Micro fell $1.51 to $16.75 on concern the company may overpay in its quest to find new ways to beat Intel. ATI is trading at 28 times next year's earnings, while Advanced Micro trades at 15 times and companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 trade at 14 times.

``The market won't like it,'' Lawrence Borgman, an analyst at Jesup & Lamont Capital in New York, said July 21. ``It doesn't make sense unless it's something that customers are demanding.''

Cash, Shares

Advanced Micro will pay $4.2 billion in cash, $2.5 billion of which will be financed by Morgan Stanley. The company will also issue 57 million of its shares, increasing its share count by 12 percent, and 11 million restricted stock options.

Advanced Micro cut Santa Clara, California-based Intel's market share to less than 80 percent in 2005 for the first time in four years, a gain that Advanced Micro is seeking to extend. Ruiz told analysts last week he expects to take more sales as PC makers looking to diversify their suppliers.

``This is a bold, long-term strategic move by Hector,'' said Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research in Tiburon, California, which does market research on the graphics industry.

Convincing Dell

ATI will give Ruiz a leg up by adding a product that Intel has long offered clients. Intel's products such as Centrino include chipsets with graphics capabilities, giving it an advantage when dealing with customers.

``The customers insisted for some time that we combine forces to do a better job of serving them,'' Ruiz said in an interview.

Round Rock, Texas-based Dell, the largest personal-computer maker, this year gave Advanced Micro its first order, breaking an exclusive agreement with Intel. Adding graphics chips may help Advanced Micro make further inroads.

``We have a better shot at convincing Dell that our product should be used in their computers,'' Ruiz said. ``We have been talking to Dell forever about selling them on the idea that AMD is a great choice for their product.''

Catch up

ATI has been playing catch-up with Nvidia Corp. in PC graphics chips after last year missing an upgrade cycle for the most profitable and powerful semiconductors.

ATI Chief Executive Officer David Orton said last month that sales at the company's PC unit had been slow in June and he expects demand to pick up in the second half of the year.

``You look for complementary strength, ATI and AMD bring together the opportunity to go stronger in the PC market,'' Orton said in an interview. The company had no other suitors, he said.

On June 29, ATI reported a fiscal third-quarter profit of $31.9 million, compared with a loss of $450,000, a year earlier. Sales gained 23 percent to $652.3 million. ATI is predicted to report revenue of $2.57 billion, the average of 33 analyst estimates taken by Thomson Financial.

Advanced Micro ended the second quarter with about $2.53 billion in cash and equivalents, according to Bloomberg data. Profit and sales have been hurt by price competition with Intel. Revenue fell 3.5 percent to $1.22 billion last quarter.

The distraction of buying a company the size of ATI may crimp Advanced Micro's ability to drive customer demand and compete with Intel.

``In the short term it's negative as AMD will have a lot on its plate integrating ATI at a time of overcapacity and a fierce price war with Intel,'' Plakman said.


To contact the reporter on this story:
Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 24, 2006 08:16 EDT

[[PhiberOpticks]]

These additions to AMD's product line will help the company better match rival Intel, which offers its own line of chip sets with graphics capabilities. But the deal will likely threaten AMD's relationship with Nvidia, ATI's main rival in the graphics space and an important AMD partner.

The hammer of doom is pleased.

Nvidia on ATI: "basically throwing in the towel"

Posted Jul 25th 2006 4:55PM by Ludwig Kietzmann
Filed under: PC, Business
It seems that graphics powerhouse Nvidia is reacting rather well to news of AMD scooping ATI off the corporate shelf and filling in coupons to the value of $5.4 billion at the checkout counter. Speaking to BusinessWeek Online, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang described the purchase as a "gift", presumably whilst reclining in a henhouse, sipping cocktails and counting objects of some kind. He went on to say that ATI was "throwing in the towel, leaving us as the only stand-alone (graphics chip) company in the world." Of course, not being a stand-alone graphics chip company hasn't stopped Intel from competing in that market, so perhaps winning the "who can be the last stand-alone company" competition isn't all that important.

More importance can be found in the repercussions of such a large purchase. There are concerns that AMD's debt-to-capital ratio might take a turn for the worse after the company took out a $2.5 billion term loan to cover some of the purchase. Intel and Nvidia's chummy relationship may also prove to be a stumbling block should ATI's graphics chips ever be locked out of Intel machines. Still, AMD cautiously considers the potential benefits, such as major cost reductions and an entry point into the Intel-dominated laptop arena, to be worth the price and effort.

Mr. Huang's expectations may turn out to be accurate in the long run, but in an industry that was once ruled by 3dfx Interactive (remember Glide?), anything can happen.

The hammer of doom is not pleased by this insolence.

The one-chip computer at the heart of AMD-ATI deal

By Michael Kanellos
http://news.com.com/The+one-chip+computer+at+the+heart+of+ AMD-ATI+deal/2100-1006_3-6097701.html

Story last modified Mon Jul 24 12:29:12 PDT 2006

Why is Advanced Micro Devices laying out billions of dollars to get into the often-painful world of making computer graphics chips? Because Moore's Law never sleeps.

If AMD's shareholders approve the $5.4 billion purchase of ATI Technologies, AMD will become the largest maker of standalone graphics chips on the planet and one of the largest producers of integrated chipsets. It may also give AMD early access to Intel product plans.

The key to the deal, however, is that it will give Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD the internal know-how to devise processors with integrated graphics and communications capabilities. That so-called system-on-a-chip would effectively provide all the intelligence a handheld device or low-end PC might require. In addition, the company will be able to do chipsets with integrated graphics and video chips for digital TVs--products that Intel makes now.

When it announced the ATI deal on Monday, AMD said it hoped to come out with processors with integrated graphics, and with chipsets with integrated graphics, by 2008. AMD already makes processors with built-in memory controllers that connect the processor to memory.

"They want some of the integration possibilities that ATI gives them," said Dean McCarron, the principal analyst at Mercury Research. "There's a number of reasons against this deal, and there is not as much fit in the short term. But if you look long term, you can make a bigger argument for it."

"Visual computing is playing a larger role in what we are doing going forward," Hector Ruiz, AMD's chief executive, said during a conference call Monday with analysts.

Graphics integration is inevitable, given the relentless pace of the chip industry, analysts and others said. Under Moore's Law, the number of transistors on a chip should double every two years.

That's a lot of transistor to digest. Many times, designers consume the "new" transistors by increasing the internal memory pool, or cache, or by beefing up the performance of existing blocks on the chip.

But many times, they integrate existing chips into the main processor. Early PCs had a thing called a math coprocessor, which years ago was absorbed into the processors. The 512K cache on the first Pentium IIs consisted of separate memory chips located near the processor and cost $20 to add. The cache on the current Core Duo chips is eight times as large, is part of the larger chip, and the whole thing costs less to manufacture.

Graphics have already been put into chipsets, and many in the industry have been waiting for graphics to appear more frequently in processors.

"It has always been thought that the graphics chip would get integrated into the processor," said Dave Epstein, a partner at Crosslink Capital. Epstein founded Raycer Graphics, which he sold to Apple Computer in 1999.

Where and how you add graphics depends on the market, Epstein added. Putting graphics in the chipset simplifies processor design, but the manufacturer then has to make different chipsets for different segments of the market.

While integrated parts don't typically perform as well as standalone chips, the difference often become irrelevant after a few years. Back in 1998, Intel scared graphics chip companies when it decided to sell standalone graphics chips.

The chips sold miserably, and Intel got out of the business the next year. However, it continued to make chipsets with integrated graphics. In a few quarters, Intel became the largest graphics chipset vendor in the world, a title it still holds today.

Other companies have tried similar combinations in the past. Cyrix came out with the MediaGX, which had integrated controllers and graphics. Intel also designed, but never released, Timna in 1999, which had integrated graphics and a memory controller.

Neither product succeeded, but not because integration wasn't a good idea. Cyrix, which got bought by National, rarely landed design wins with customers, and the performance of its processors typically lagged.

Timna was doomed because the integrated memory controller connected to memory based on designs from Rambus. The memory was supposed to become the standard for PC memory, but manufacturing problems, high prices and other issues grounded it.

"Ironically, AMD's product will end up looking a lot like Timna," McCarron said.

Additionally, AMD will also become a graphics chip maker, which can be a mixed blessing. For years, graphics chips have been one of the toughest markets to make money on in the silicon business. According to McCarron and others, chipmakers have had to come up with an entirely new generation of products about every six months, which is faster than processor manufacturers must do.

To make it worse, graphics chips sell for a lot less than others.

In the late '90s, there were more than 40 graphics chip designers. Most lost money. A series of closures and mergers left the market down to two players: ATI and its rival, Nvidia.

The personalities of the two differed. ATI billed itself as the PC manufacturer's friend, coming out with relatively inexpensive chips on time. Nvidia touted itself as the gamers' choice.

Since then, ATI and Nvidia have grown and largely remained profitable, but the level of competition hasn't abated. ATI, No. 1 in the Internet era, had to delay a few products, and then Nvidia took the lead. Nvidia also got the contract for Microsoft's Xbox game console. Then, whoops, Nvidia fell off the six-month treadmill, and ATI retook the lead.

Margins remain somewhat tight. In its fiscal 2005, ATI sold $2.2 billion worth of chips and make only $17 million, in part because of inventory write-downs. A lot of ATI chips end up in Intel-based computers, so that business might shrink. In the most recent quarter, ATI sold $652 million in chips and made $31 million.
In other news:

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* News.com Extra: Ten gadgets to get you sacked
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Another ancillary benefit of the deal is that it may give AMD early access to Intel product plans. ATI provides Intel-compatible chipsets. To make chipsets, manufacturers have to be briefed early on processor design and other issues. AMD lawyers may argue one day that excluding ATI-AMD from these meetings constitutes an antitrust violation.

Then again, licensing contracts are thick. Many contain change-of-control provisions stating, essentially, that intellectual property licenses don't pass to the new owners. AMD already has its own dense, licensing contract with Intel, which gets renewed soon, and that may have a provision neutralizing any neutralizing clause in Intel's contract with ATI.

Right now, the answer is up in the air.

"We are evaluating everything. We've got to look at the proposed transaction," said Chuck Mulloy, an Intel spokesman.


Copyright ©1995-2006 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

[Cherubim1324]

Apple, ATI, and the future of Mac gaming (http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/26/does-ati-have-a-future-with-apple/)

Posted Jul 26th 2006 3:35PM by Alan Rose
Filed under: Mac, PC, Business
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2006/07/apple_ati_nvidia.jpg
In the aftermath of AMD's acquisition (http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/24/amd-to-buy-ati-for-5-4-billion/) of ATI, ZDnet blogger Jason O'Grady ponders Apple's next move with regards to graphics chips. While this isn't an issue for the MacBook and Mini product lines (both use the dreaded integrated graphics (http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/16/more-integrated-graphics-from-apple/) solution), the iMacs and MacBook Pros currently use the ATI Radeon X1600, while the Power Mac G5s ship with an Nvidia GeForce 6600.

Should Intel sever its ties with ATI, where would this leave the Intel Macs, including the forthcoming Mac Pros (rumored to be switching back to ATI)? Over the past year, it seems Mac gamers have been in an endless state of confusion with the CPU transition, Rosetta and Universal binary technologies, the introduction of Boot Camp (http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/05/apples-official-mac-gaming-solution-windows/), and now a potential GPU change.

What are your thoughts on the future of Mac gaming? Should Apple continue offering solutions from both graphics providers, and are Jobs and Co. doing enough to promote the Mac as a gaming platform?

Will Apple dump ATI for NVIDIA? (http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/index.php?p=248)

July 25, 2006

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 5:00 am

AMD yesterday announced (http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6097472.html) that they plan to acquire Canadian video chip maker ATI for US$5.4 billion. The deal needs to be approved by stockholders and regulatory agencies. Arch-rival Intel announced that they won't be renewing (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33225) ATI's chipset bus license as a result of the deal.

The move leaves Apple in a bit of a quandary because ATI video subsystems currently power two of Apple's Intel-based Macs: the MacBook Pro and the iMac both ship with ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 (http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/graphics.html) GPUs. The Mac mini and MacBook use Intel GMA950 graphics.

ATI chips shipped in most Macs prior to the PowerMac G4 announced in 2001. Apple's move to chips from Santa Clara-based NVIDIA was believed by some to be punishment for an ATI leak in July 2000 that pre-announced new iMacs and Power Macs.

Apple's aging PowerMac G4 ships with NVIDIA graphics (http://www.apple.com/powermac/graphics.html) (GeForce 6600, 7800 GT or Quadro FX 4500) but the graphics chip supplier for the new "Mac Pro" desktop is rumored to switch to back ATI. The Mac Pro, which could be announced as soon as 07 August at WWDC (http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/), is rumored (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1886) to ship with ATI Radeon X1600 Pro and X1800 Pro graphics.

Will Intel allow Apple to continue to working with ATI on graphics after the company becomes wholly owned by rival AMD? I think that we'll probably see Intel gently "suggest" that Apple switch to another vendor for graphics technology in 2007. Once the dust settles I bet that all Macs from here on out will ship with graphics from either Intel or NVIDIA.

If Apple goes with NVIDIA, hopefully Intel and Apple will support their SLI (Scalable Link Interface) technology and add the SLI connector to the motherboard. SLI takes advantage of the increased bandwidth of the PCI Express bus and allows you to scale graphics performance by combining multiple NVIDIA graphics cards in a single system.

[Cherubim1324]

AMD to shed ATI brand? (http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/07/amd-to-shed-ati-brand/)

Posted Aug 7th 2006 5:25PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Peripherals
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/08/amd-hearts-amd.jpg
We're taking this one with a grain of salt -- we haven't seen it hit the wires just yet -- but the word on the street is that AMD (http://www.engadget.com/search/?q=AMD) has decided to drop the ATI brand name from future products. Seems like it'll be all AMD all the time for the newly joined (http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/24/amd-buying-ati-for-5-4-billion/) chip makers, and according to the report, AMD's Richard Baker wanted to be clear that the acquisition is a takeover, not a merger. Apparently Chris Hook from ATI followed that up in a throughly docile manner, saying that "I don't have a personal emotional attachment to it [the brand], one way or another. I think the important thing is that we're going to make good products. ATI may be gone, but certainly lots of discussion is going to come over the next few days about the rest of our brands and their strengths." We were kind of hoping for some sort of nationally televised logo-deathmatch, or at least a lame attempt at merging the two brands, but we suppose we'll keep on keeping on. Somehow.

[Thanks, Alex W. (http://www.thewiredjester.co.uk/)]

AMD to drop ATi brand 4:19PM (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/custompc/news/91589/amd-to-drop-ati-brand.html)

Monday 7th August 2006
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/picture_library/dir_102/it_portal_pic_51323_t.jpg
Chip guru AMD has announced that it's going to drop the ATi brand name following its takeover of the Canadian graphics underdog. Gareth Cater from AMD told Custom PC that 'the new company will be called AMD,' meaning that we could shortly be seeing AMD-branded Radeon graphics chips.

We asked Richard Baker from AMD if this meant that the memorable Radeon name would also be biting the dust, but he replied that 'we haven't made any final decisions yet, but I'd personally be very surprised if we dropped any of those product names. The ATi company name is definitely going, though.'

Baker stressed that, contrary to what's been reported in the press elsewhere, the acquisition will be a takeover rather than a merger, which means that AMD is going to be wearing the trousers in its relationship. Baker said that 'the company is being bought, so it's fairly standard that the name should go, as it's becoming a part of AMD.'

Chris Hook from ATi shrugged off the move, saying that 'I don't have a personal emotional attachment to it [the brand], one way or another. I think the important thing is that we're going to make good products. ATi may be gone, but certainly lots of discussion is going to come over the next few days about the rest of our brands and their strengths.' Could the next Radeon chip be AMD branded? Watch this space.

Ben Hardwidge

[Night]

AMD is homosexual for other AMD's?!??!!

Maybe I'm not interpreting Cherub's picture right... anyway I use AMD and ATI over all others anyway, so this serves to simplify... sorta... my shits.

[[PhiberOpticks]]

Meh, not really that big of a deal that the brand name is being dropped. Still has the same people running the show.

[Cherubim1324]

AMD hints at integrated graphics and physics acceleration in CPUs 10:47AM (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/custompc/news/91629/amd-hints-at-integrated-graphics-and-physics-acceleration-in-cpus.html)

Tuesday 8th August 2006

Just weeks after announcing its intentions to consume ATi, Intel rival AMD has already hinted at the possibility of future CPUs featuring integrated graphics and physics acceleration.

AMD's European channel marketing manager, Richard Baker, told Custom PC that 'there's a blur between general purpose processing and specialist processing, and I expect to see things like combined products in particular markets. So, in much the same way as a floating point unit is now integrated into the processor, I would expect to see joint single pieces of silicon for certain specialist markets too.'

Could this mean integrated graphics inside the CPU? We asked Baker, who replied that he wasn't 'talking about anything that's been specifically announced yet, but it's the sort of thing that could reasonably be expected to happen. However, the sorts of markets are going to be low cost markets. You're not going to integrate some steaming great big quad-core CrossFire engine into a CPU; that would be crazy. But if you're looking at entry level parts for emerging markets, where a very simple GPU could be integrated, then that could be possible.'

ATi was slightly more evasive around the subject, and Chris Hook from the graphics company said that 'it's very difficult to comment on future platforms and whether they're going to be one piece of silicon, or two or five. It's just very premature at the moment, and a lot of these details are going to be ironed out during the next 120 days.'

It's fair to say that a CPU with integrated graphics isn't going to excite any PC gamers, unless they're particularly into Minesweeper, but with ATi's recently announced CrossFire physics technology, it's possible that AMD could produce a specialist CPU for gaming physics calculations. We asked Baker if this could be a possibility, and he said, 'yeah, I couldn't commit to anything specific at this time though.'

You might think that these hybrid products will be several years in the making, but Baker optimistically claims that we could be seeing new products as early as next year. 'Some people have speculated that it will take three years for anything to come of this,' claimed Baker, and that it'll take ages before AMD and ATi work closely enough together to form new products, but we're talking the timescale of around a year.'

Ben Hardwidge

AMD stays hand over ATi brand axe 12:46PM (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/custompc/news/news/91650)

Tuesday 8th August 2006

Custom PC discovered yesterday that a number of AMD and ATi staff had understood the ATi brand was to be dropped (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/custompc/news/news/91593). However, AMD has backtracked on that position, saying no such decision has been made and that it maintains a strong commitment to the ATi brand.

AMD's olive branch to ATi fan boys came straight from the company's Sunnyvale headquarters. Spokesperson Eric DeRitis told Custom PC: 'AMD has no plans to drop the ATi brand name or ATi's product brands. The ATi name will live on at AMD as our leading consumer brand, and so will the Radeon brand and other ATi product brands. AMD's executive management knows very well the power and value of branding, and ATi's branding is some of the most valued in the global technology industry. As such, we plan to keep it. Period.'

Gareth Cater of AMD told us today that although 'the new company will be called AMD ... the future branding of individual products and platforms will be determined at a later point in time.'

What's clear from all this is that ATi will have no part in the overall name of the company after the takeover, but it's possible that AMD will continue to use the ATi brand, as well as the Radeon brand, for specific product lines. What's also clear is that mixed messages are not only being given to the press, but also to the employees of both ATi and AMD.

Ben Hardwidge

[Cherubim1324]

AMD Gains Antitrust Approval to Buy ATI (http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20060907/tc_pcworld/127066)

Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service
Thu Sep 7, 9:00 AM ET

Advanced Micro Devices said yesterday it has gained approval from key U.S., Canadian, and German antitrust regulators for its $5.4 billion plan to buy (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/pcworld/tc_pcworld/storytext/127066/20205545/SIG=11nbp73nv/*http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,126682/article.html) Canadian chip set developer ATI Technologies.

Antitrust approval for the deal, which has been billed as a major step forward for AMD in its battle against rival Intel, pushes the acquisition far closer to completion. But it still faces several smaller hurdles, including a vote of approval by ATI shareholders on October 13, and further scrutiny by regulators in Canada and Taiwan.

The companies expect the acquisition to close by November 30 of this year. ATI has to pay AMD a termination fee of $162 million if it backs out of the arrangement.

AMD said a required waiting period related to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 has expired, opening the door for its purchase of ATI as far as U.S. antitrust authorities are concerned. Canada's Commissioner of Competition has also given the deal a green light, as has the German Federal Cartel Office.

Fighting for Market Share

The world's second largest microprocessor maker hopes the ATI purchase (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/pcworld/tc_pcworld/storytext/127066/20205545/SIG=11n8nf396/*http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,126512/article.html) will beef up its graphics and chip set prowess, and give it a new weapon in its fight for market share against Intel.

Until now, AMD has relied on third-party chip set makers such as ATI, Nvidia of the U.S., as well as two Taiwanese chip set vendors, Via Technologies, and Silicon Integrated Systems, for the majority of its chip sets.

Chip sets are a vital pair of chips inside a PC that regulate the flow of data between the microprocessor and other system chips, such as memory and graphics. Many chip sets integrate graphics, allowing PC makers to forego adding graphics cards to systems. Some analysts believe that in the future, chip sets will take on far more work than just graphics, one day including even the microprocessor.

[Cherubim1324]

AMD and ATI finally tie the knot, embark on "Fusion" honeymoon (http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/25/amd-and-ati-finally-tie-the-knot-embark-on-fusion-honeymoon/)

Posted Oct 25th 2006 9:03AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/07/amdati2.jpg
We all knew it was just a matter of time (http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/08/amd-and-ati-get-their-union-blessed-by-the-suits/), but AMD has finally completed its $5.4 billion acquisition of ATI (http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/24/amd-buying-ati-for-5-4-billion/), after jumping through all the necessary regulatory and shareholder hoops. They sure aren't wasting any time, either. The newly joined pair is taking this special moment to announce their upcoming -- and totally expected -- integrated platforms, which should debut in 2007 and will present a rough equivalent to Intel's integrated offerings. However, the new AMD also has a new "Fusion" technology in the works which goes quite a bit beyond regular old integrated graphics. The "new class of x86 processor" integrates the CPU and GPU at the silicon level, supposedly allowing for better performance-per-watts and all other kinds of good times. This sort of "modular" processing has a lot of potential, and we should be seeing Fusion-based products in late 2008 or early 2009. The chips are supposed to make it into everything from laptops to desktops to servers, and could provide a delightful twist to the AMD vs. Intel wars everybody is gearing up for.

[Via Randomly Accessed (http://www.randomlyaccessed.com/bleedingedge/news.php?action=fullnews&id=82)]

Read (http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20061024006371&newsLang=en)

They finally tied the knot...took them long enough.

[NovasLogic]

aww.. thats so sweet. Where are they going for the honey moon?