The 12 inch notebook market
On one level you could argue that AMD is reacting to Intel's near monopoly of the netbook market with its Atom processor, by attempting to create its own. However, during an extensive interview in front of our TV cameras with VP of advanced marketing Pat Moorhead, we were given a different perspective.
Moorhead sees an opportunity in servicing the ‘ultra-mobile PC' market, which used to spend well over £1,000 in order to get a very portable notebook without having to compromise on features and performance. This market has presumably suffered from the boom in netbook sales, but Moorhead thinks there's still a market for people frustrated by the performance compromises made by netbooks.
So Yukon and Congo will be platforms designed to enable OEMs to produce, say, 12 inch notebooks that provide satisfactory video play back and game-playing ability. They will be more expensive than netbooks but much cheaper than traditional ultra-portable notebook, probably in the £500-£800 range.
Inevitably, the success of Yukon and Congo will be measured in contrast to that of netbooks and Intel's Atom
Inevitably, the success of Yukon and Congo will be measured in contrast to that of netbooks and Intel's Atom. A look at the challenges AMD faces in developing this segment provides an interesting snapshot of the size of the task it faces in taking on a rival like Intel.
As I've already noted, at time of writing AMD hasn't made a profit for nine quarters and has a market capitalisation of around $1.1 billion. Conversely Intel made a profit in the last quarter alone of $2 billion, so it could afford to buy AMD outright and still not make a loss for even one quarter.
