HEXUS.sharewatch: AMD benefits from Intel chipset stumble

Existing, as it does, in the permanent shadow of much larger rival Intel, AMD's fortunes are quite closely, and inversely, aligned to those of chipzilla.

So the news, a week ago, that the chipset required to run Intel's latest generation of CPUs - codenamed Sandy Bridge - had a design flaw, was good for AMD. Not only is the recall of motherboards containing the chip going to cost Intel around $700 million, but this effectively puts the shipments of Sandy Bridge systems on hold for a bit.

Many end-users will simply wait, but there are bound to be some who will go for an AMD system instead, or at the very least have a look at what AMD has to offer where previously they might not have bothered. Also, while the current Fusion chips don't compete directly with Sandy Bridge, this is an especially auspicious time for AMD's rival to have a wobble.

Elsewhere ARM had yet another huge week after announcing record profits for Q4 and the 2010 financial year. While ARM's P/E is around 100 right now, which is a wildly optimistic valuation, ARM offered some justification to such a valuation by revealing how solid its future revenues outlook is. Having said that, it still looks a bit bubbly to us.

Some reassuring macroeconomic data from the States contributed to a positive week across the board, with none of our shares in the red. This is the last HEXUS.sharewatch before Mobile World Congress and it's interesting to note the likes of NVIDIA and Nokia also having decent weeks.