back to article AMD stands for Another Monetary Decline, while Apple continues to sell enough pricey kit to keep Wall Street happy

Junior varsity chip outfit AMD saw its stock take a hit Tuesday when its financial forecast fell short of analyst expectations. For the second quarter of the financial year ending June 30 AMD's results are as follows: Revenue of $1.53bn was down 13 per cent from the year-ago quarter but slightly ahead of the $1.52bn analyst …

  1. Wayland

    Su AMD and Tim Apple are in different markets

    Where Tim Apple sells easy to use smartphones to lefties Su AMD sells kick arse processors to computer builders from corporates to basement dwelling techies.

    The techies have mostly replaced their i5 systems with RYZEN 5 systems. The latest RYZEN are superb but not so much better than the original that you need to upgrade.

    The lefties continue to put their smartphones in their back pockets and then sit on them, thereby keeping Tim Apple happy.

    The reason I say Apple users are lefties is because right wing content does not show up reliably on an iPhone. The Telegram App for instance is censored and you can use Apple for Cryptocurrency. OK so there are ways round these problems but you don't have these problems on a PC.

    1. Antonius_Prime

      Re: Su AMD and Tim Apple are in different markets

      Erm...

      How is Telegram censored?

      I'm using it on my iThing and so are several of close family & friends.

      It's better than What's App in that it doesn't constantly bug for notifications, contact slurping & uploading, photo slurp'n'upload, web history, et al...

      So if it's censored, I'd like to know what's going down, if possible, please'n'thank you...

      1. batfink

        Re: Su AMD and Tim Apple are in different markets

        Really? How is it censored? And what content are you putting on it that you're worried about being censored in the first place?

        I like the idea that "all iThing users are lefties coz I can't send rabid shit on Telegram". Nicely thought through...

    2. macjules

      Re: Su AMD and Tim Apple are in different markets

      Ah, I think I can hear Breitbart calling - they want their commentard back

    3. phuzz Silver badge
      WTF?

      Re: Su AMD and Tim Apple are in different markets

      "The reason I say Apple users are lefties is because right wing content does not show up reliably on an iPhone. The Telegram App for instance is censored and you can [sic] use Apple for Cryptocurrency."

      Damn those perfidious Apple engineers! They've created a chip that can tell when good, wholesome, red blooded, all-American, right-wing bits are being transmitted and are censoring them!

      I BET SIRI EVEN TELLS YOU THAT JETFUEL CAN MELT STEEL BEAMS!

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "The techies have mostly replaced their i5 systems"

      ROTFL - the "techies" usually have far better chances of running i7, i9 and Xeon - class processors... and most "techies" are far less interested in what CPU they use as long as it has enough power to run their tasks flawlessly. Gamers - that's another class of users....

  2. John Savard

    AMD Outlook

    People whose computers are quite old will be the ones looking for a new system, not people who have perfectly good computers already. But at this time, for those who are buying computers, AMD's Ryzen processors look to be the best choice. However, I fear that this was just luck - when Intel's new chips come out belatedly, I expect them to be ahead of AMD... in everything but price.

    But instead of anticipating Ice Lake... well, stores are running out of those Ryzen chips, so apparently TSMC can't make enough of them to give AMD a decent revenue stream, and that's what the stock market is reacting to. Still, AMD is in a good position to increase the size of its development efforts to stay competitive.

    1. jonathan keith

      Re: AMD Outlook

      When Intel's new chips do finally arrive, AMD will be off in the distance launching Ryzen 4.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: AMD Outlook

      "People whose computers are quite old will be the ones looking for a new system, not people who have perfectly good computers already."

      X570 looks like a great workstation platform due to high core count and PCI-E 4.0 support. If you're doing something severely I/O limited, then even with a new Intel PC, you may well see a benefit from going AMD (Corsair make PCI-E 4.0 x4 SSDs capable for ~5GB/s r/w). Similarly, I'm not sure how AMD's Radeon 5700 perform, but if they make proper use of their PCI-E 4.0 support, there may be a benefit there, too. I would note that Intel uses PCI-E 3.0 x4 to link the CPU to the PCH, which everything except the 16 PCI-E 3.0 lanes for the GPU hang off, whereas AMD has 16 PCI-E 4.0 lanes for the GPU and 4 PCI-E 4.0 lanes for an SSD coming off the CPU (and the link to the PCH is PCI-E 4.0), so there's noticeably more bandwidth available.

      "However, I fear that this was just luck - when Intel's new chips come out belatedly, I expect them to be ahead of AMD... in everything but price."

      Intel's next chipset is confirmed to be PCI-E 3.0, so no, by definition, it won't be ahead on everything except price. ;)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: AMD Outlook

        "Intel's next chipset is confirmed to be PCI-E 3.0, so no, by definition, it won't be ahead on everything except price. ;)"

        Intel has a PCIe 4.0 chipset design, unfortunately it's on 10nm that they are struggling to produce anything from.

        Making expensive mobile CPU's maybe possible on 10nm at a profit given the rumoured manufacturing issues/yields, but I'm not sure you want 10nm PCIe 4.0 chipsets limited by your "fast" 14nm+++++ CPU's demonstrating just how broken your 10nm manufacturing processes are.

      2. phuzz Silver badge

        Re: AMD Outlook

        X570 does indeed look great, I just wish the motherboards weren't so bloody expensive.

        (Although at least AMD are keeping the same socket, you should be able to slot a Ryzen 4 CPU in when they arrive).

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: AMD Outlook

          Which is why I am holding out for the B450 motherboards. I'm also waiting for the Zen 2 APUs since I'd like to replace a couple of Haswell µATX systems with something smaller and more power efficient.

          I'm just sitting here with money in hand. Hopefully those products come sooner than later.

  3. Tim99 Silver badge
    Meh

    Stocks

    Don't you just love "Analysts". Set up a short position on a stock that usually does well, then doom and gloom the stocks until just before the results are announced - Profit. Then use the shorted profits to ride the stocks back up after the announcement - Sell and then repeat (allegedly).

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Mac revenues boosted by monitor stands?

    They should start to make $999 iPhone holders too...

  5. Zippy´s Sausage Factory

    I'm still confused

    I'd have thought Apple would have bought AMD years ago. That said, if they've been relying on Intel for modems to keep Qualcomm on a leash, that recent purchase of Intel's modem unit should clear the way for an acquisition. Although that said, with AMD being fabless, I can see that being less attractive than it could otherwise be.

    1. paulf
      Alert

      Re: I'm still confused

      If we ever find there's some truth in the long time, and persistent, rumours about Apple migrating the Macs and macOS from x86_64 to ARM, then owning AMD wouldn't make any sense other than securing the ATI graphics stuff*. If Apple really do want to migrate away from Intel processors, and their in house ARM capability can deliver something that provides enough grunt for a desktop, then it makes more sense spending the money on that than the $billions required for an AMD purchase.

      *Since they ditched PowerVR for in house graphics on iOS devices I wouldn't bet against them beefing this up over time to deliver something capable of replacing the basic Intel graphics used in low end portables.

  6. Missing Semicolon Silver badge
    Meh

    Intel still have the PC makers by the....

    Given that AMD processors are faster, cheaper, lower power AND more secure, why isn't Dell's storefront full of AMD-stuffed boxes?

    1. dnicholas

      Re: Intel still have the PC makers by the....

      Probably because of the risk that AMD can't supply enough chips for that storefront...

      1. GrumpenKraut

        Re: Intel still have the PC makers by the....

        Or intel mentioning some lovely discounts could suffer if Dell offer AMD based systems?

        1. dnicholas

          Re: Intel still have the PC makers by the....

          Given the eyes on Intel these days, especially in the EU, I'm going with my theory. See also AMD's inability to keep up with demand for their current top end chip...

          1. 0verl0rd

            Re: Intel still have the PC makers by the....

            Wasn't a reason Dell's CTO used as an excuse a year ago https://www.techpowerup.com/241961/dell-cto-on-amd-powered-products-dont-expect-a-intel-and-amd-duopoly

            Fast forward 12 months https://www.tomshardware.com/news/dell-amd-epyc-rome-server,39213.html

  7. MrSeaneyC

    It’s no surprise there’s a slow down at the enterprise end, I did a lot of testing with Naples based Epyc parts 6 months ago, and for virtual workloads if wasn’t up to snuff mainly due to scheduler issues in VMware. We are all waiting for Rome now these have been fixed (apparently!)

  8. Agent Tick
    Black Helicopters

    AMD lost the plot.....

    Releasing "new" hardware every month but unable to produce flawless drivers since month now .. is a classic recipe for disaster!

    Time for a more competent CEO or AMD will perish soon!

  9. rav

    Hey Shaun....

    "AMD stands for Another Monetary Decline" Are you channeling the Twitterflake in the White House now? That sounds like something Trump would say.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like