What's really happening at AMD?

So what's really going on at AMD?

Well, that gets us to now and the question, prompted by the rumours of job losses, of what’s really happening at AMD?

It's important to stress, having documented many of the things we think AMD did wrong in 2006 and 2007, that it appears to be doing a lot right in 2008.

In the RS780G, AMD has a chipset that significantly raises the bar in integrated graphics and was probably the highlight of substance at CeBIT 2008.

It promises to be the heart of AMD's new mobile PC platform, called Puma, which gives every indication of being able to finally give Intel a run for its money in the laptop space.

We've heard that 'the majority' of notebook design wins over the past few months have gone in AMD's favour, with figures of 70 percent or more being mentioned in the same breath as AMD Puma.

HEXUS recently visited AMD's Canadian headquarters in Markham, Ontario and saw a lot of as yet unreleased notebooks based on AMD Puma from a wide variety of makers, including numerous SKUs from multiple tier-one players, so we reckon that AMD is probably onto a winner in this space.

This year, AMD also reclaimed the graphics performance crown for a volume product, albeit briefly, with its Radeon HD 3870 X2 and is strongly positioned in the low-end and mid-range graphics segments.

Exciting GPU

Furthermore, HEXUS hasn't seen AMD as excited, internally, about a new GPU as it seems to be about the upcoming R700. And let's not forget CTO Phil Hester's compelling APU vision, which we expect to make an appearance in 2009.

And, funnily enough, a perverse, unintended, but no doubt welcome consequence of being spanked by Intel and NVIDIA over the past year or so has been for AMD's two arch-enemies to turn their sights on each other, presumably assuming that AMD is not, currently, much of a threat.

Yes, if reports are to be believed, relationships between Intel and NVIDIA are not at their best these days. AMD must be watching them tear chunks out of each other with the same lightness of heart that many football fans feel when witnessing a foul-filled stalemate between Manchester United and Chelsea.

So it's very possible that AMD's 18-month nightmare is coming to an end and that this moment, rather than marking yet another low point in the fortunes of the company, will be viewed in retrospect as the turning point, when the pieces finally began to fall into place.

Also, let's not forget, AMD has a hell of a lot of resources at its disposal. The unique synergies created by the ATI deal are still there and it continues to innovate impressively at CPU level. If it is finally executing well enough to fully capitalise on these resources, the second half of 2008 could mark AMD's return to profitability.

And on the subject of job-losses, why would a company allegedly desperate to shed headcount still be recruiting, which AMD still is? Furthermore, why would it be looking for a new VP of HR for global sales and marketing?

A quick look at AMD's careers site revealed the following vacancy:

A screenshot taken from the AMD website's careers section on 27th March 2008