Re:Microsoft might be interested in buying AMD
by grub5000 on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @01:34PM
(#9806997)
My main question about this is basically: can AMD produce anything that's actually competitive with Intel?
I think their (now-outsourced) fab process is so far behind that they just can't produce anything Microsoft would want on a CPU level.
Though now that I think about it, the APUs would certainly be more competitive for certain types of machine learning processing.
Re:Microsoft might be interested in buying AMD
by zanny on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @01:37PM
(#9807029)
They have had all their recent APUs and GPUs fabbed at TSMC on its 28nm node. Dunno what their most recent GF product line was, last I remember was Richland 3 years ago.
Re:Microsoft might be interested in buying AMD
by mark-r on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @03:10PM
(#9807716)
Next up on Microsoft's shopping list - a fab?
Re:Microsoft might be interested in buying AMD
by keithpeter on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @02:09PM
(#9807280)
Didn't AMD outsource their fabrication plant? I seem to remember that it was floated off as a separate thing.
I think that Microsoft needs server processors for their Azure cloud, with enough volumes Microsoft could undercut all other cloud providers on hardware acquisition costs if they own a manufacturer of CPUs, Chipsets, GPUs for OpenCL applications.
If you build your own servers from a OEM manufacturer like Quanta, Compal and Foxconn which by the way makes most branded servers anyway and you then put your own CPU, GPU and components motherboards in there you have a lower acquisitions costs on your cloud computing compared to the others.
Thus it makes sense for Microsoft on Xbox & Azure and possibly hardware for Windows tablets.