It's a big day for Advanced Micro Devices
Intel won't have a dual-core 64-bit chip for servers till the end of this year, at the earliest. Yet both IBM
The hookups with IBM and HP are extremely significant, too, because they could rapidly grow AMD's X86 server market share, which has historically sat below 5%. Indeed, industry researcher Gartner said in February that IBM and HP were first and second, respectively, in server revenue during last year's fourth quarter. HP, however, moved the most units, with Dell
Now consider that researcher IDC pegged the total server market at $50 billion last year, and the X86 market, where the new Opterons will have an impact, at $6.3 billion in the fourth quarter alone. It's not a stretch to think that any meaningful expansion of AMD's market share will have a major impact on the computing group, which booked a record $750 million during the recently completed first quarter.
Still, that wouldn't have meant much a few weeks ago. But then AMD decided to drop the money-losing anchor that has been the Spansion flash memory unit. That means a growing chip business with decent margins and a not inconsequential competitive advantage may soon become available. And, for once, it's not Intel.
For related Foolishness:
- Want more insight into what's wrong with Spansion? Check out AMD's news flash.
- Intel got a leg up in desktops in its dual duel with AMD.
- This all started when Intel's role was reversed.
- That's why Dell flirted with AMD. But it remained faithful to Intel in the end.
Fool contributor Tim Beyers didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story at the time of publication. You can find out what's in his portfolio by checking Tim's Fool profile, which is here. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.