We already knew that AMD had benefited from the fault with Intel's 6-series chipsets when its share price shot up, but it looks like the company is feeling a positive effect in the channel, not just on the trading floor.
According to Dow Jones Newswire, some retailers have been turning to AMD for extra products to replace the Intel stock that had to be removed from the shelves. Other retailers and OEMs are just looking for similar products to help meet consumer demand and offer an alternative to the Sandy Bridge platform.
AMD VP Leslie Sobon told the news source that "we have some customers and retailers who have come to us specifically as a result of Intel's chip problem. Some retailers have had to take things off their shelves, so they call us to ask what they could get from our OEMs that's similar. And OEMs are asking us for product, as well".
Although Sobon said that she couldn't quantify what financial impact the increased interest might have, she noted that "it's all over the place in terms of opportunity".
Obviously AMD doesn't really have anything that can compete directly with the Sandy Bridge platform - at least not until later in the year. However, this might give the company's Fusion APUs a bit more of a chance to shine in the all-important mainstream laptop segment.
In possibly unrelated news, X-bit Labs is reporting that Intel's new enthusiast-class processors - which will replace the X58/LGA1366 platform - have been pushed back into the fourth quarter of this year. It was always clear that the high-performance CPUs would trail the first-batch of Sandy Bridge processors, but a Q4 launch could allow AMD to regain favour with the performance-crowd following the mid-year launch of its six- and eight-core Bulldozer chips.
