Former ATI Chief Quits AMD, Signalling An Unhappy Marriage

from the a-chip-on-your-shoulder dept

Wed, Jul 11th 2007 1:07pm — Joseph Weisenthal

One of the biggest losers in the tech world right now is AMD, which has been getting its clock cleaned by Intel. Just a year ago, AMD was taking market share away from Intel, and with its acquisition of graphics chip maker ATI, it was supposed to establish technological supremacy over its much larger rival. But that dream has turned into a nightmare. The company announced today that David Orton, ATI's former CEO, would be stepping down, as plans to integrate the two companies' technology has been going slowly. Orton insists that he's still optimistic about AMD's chances (whatever that's worth), but it definitely appears that the company bit off way more than it could chew, in trying to do a major acquisition while simultaneously getting itself into a brutal price war with Intel.

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Filed Under: resignations
Companies: amd, ati

16 Comments

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Dave, 11 Jul 2007 @ 1:40pm

Nice Spin
Can you really expect that just a year after an acquisition takes place that everything will be working together smoothly? It takes years of development to put a product out on the market. So you saying that the "dream has turned into a nightmare" is just plain stupid. Looking at the current roadmaps that AMD has put out we start to see the fusing of the GPU and CPU within the next two years. A timetable that any sane person would expect.

And when a company gets acquired, the ceo usually does step down so it really isn't that unexpected.
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Overcast, 11 Jul 2007 @ 1:54pm

Just goes to prove - bigger isn't always better.
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Yo-Joe, 11 Jul 2007 @ 2:12pm

Someone Like Intel
Sounds to me like someone is 'in bed' with Intel. That or they just broke up with AMD. Hey Joe, don't let your personal life interfere with your reporting.
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2007 @ 2:38pm
  
  Re: Someone Like Intel
  Somebody writes something with which you don't agree, so they must be on the take. Fucking brilliant, asshole.
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  - Yo-Joe, 11 Jul 2007 @ 4:36pm
    
    Re: Re: Someone Like Intel
    Where did I say that I disagreed? Joe's article is completely bashing instead of maybe, I don't know, consider the fact that mergers don't make miracles. By the tone of the article it sounds like he is laughing at AMD and is twidling his fingers like an evil mastermind.
    BTW, way to show your intelligence by using colorful language.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2007 @ 4:57pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Someone Like Intel
      Fuck you and whatever you think about my language. You're the asshole implying Joe's on the take.
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      - Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2007 @ 5:02pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Someone Like Intel
        You give Anonymous Cowards a bad name.
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        Yo-Joe, 11 Jul 2007 @ 5:03pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Someone Like Intel
        Funny!
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        Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2007 @ 5:52pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Someone Like Intel
        Fuck, fuck, fuck,
        Mother motherfuck
        Mother motherfuck fuck
        Motherfuck motherfuck
        Noise, noise, noise
        1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4
        Noise, noise noise
        Shmokin'Weed shmoking wizz
        Doin' coke, drinkin' beers
        Drinkin' beers, beers, beers
        Rollin' fatties, smokin' blunts
        Who smokes the blunts?
        We smoke the blunts!
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GoblinJuice, 11 Jul 2007 @ 2:14pm

I'll be blunt: I used to be an ATI fanboy, but now I'm starting to consider switching. The delays with the Radeon HD 2900XT, the (currently) craptacular Vista drivers, and the killing of the AiW line....

It's just too damn much. I can't take it anymore.

$450 bones for a card with craptacular drivers? Give me a friggin' break!

I want every SOB involved in this abortion FIRED!

I should have known the whole thing was going south when there was talk of the AiW line being axed.

WHAT IN HELL WERE THEY THINKING?!
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2007 @ 2:28pm

AMD has been the underdog before. They've made a few mistakes and have learned from them. I personally prefer AMD chips over Intel any day. I know they're not the absolute fastest thing around, but for the price, who cares? Plus it seems to be easier to put AMD systems together because although there are plenty of options for components, there isn't a bazillion different choices like for Intel systems.

I once tried to spec out an Intel Core 2 Duo system on Newegg, and I quickly got lost in the maze of parts. And as I wandered around trying to find good combinations of parts, I realized that the price was not looking favorable and quickly shifted gear back to an Athlon 64 X2 system.

I don't know if the ATI merger is a good thing or not, and personally I don't really care much about it because I will take nVidia (motherboard and graphic card chipsets both) over ATI any day. Always have, probably always will. However, I do know that it is WAAAAAAAAAAY too early to make any intelligent claim about the effect it is having on AMD. Two companies don't just merge together instantly and hit the ground running.

My company recently went through a merger process of a much smaller scale than AMD/ATI, and it took over a year for the dust to settle. Even now, more than a year and a half later, the finer details are still being worked out. Honestly, give it half a chance, and I bet AMD will get back in the ring again and put up yet another good fight. And if nothing else, it's always more fun to cheer on the underdog. Remember, if we lose AMD, Intel will reign supreme, and chip prices will go through the roof due to a monopolistic stranglehold.
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- Doogie, 11 Jul 2007 @ 2:52pm
  
  Re:
  Well said, I just you were not such a coward :o) Really tho, I totally agree with you on all points.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jul 2007 @ 4:02pm

What amd needs to do is make an onboard grapics chipset thats worth a damn. Make an onboard graphics chipset that can actually play games in a thin and light notebook. Intels onboard stuff is worthless. Then Amd will be golden. I still haven't found a thin and light notebook that I can play games with without a lag. I know there not designed for that they are designed for battery life and portability for the "businessmen" so I may be the only one that wants a thin and light powerhouse.. or am I ?
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sorrow, 11 Jul 2007 @ 4:19pm

JUST DIRT
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This tech report is just DIRT!

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Randall Lind, 12 Jul 2007 @ 8:51am

AMD needs to dump ATI
ATI is crap so I didn't see why AMD would buy them. It has cause nothing but trouble for AMD I think it's time to dump ATI and get back to making the best cpu's.
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rob smith, 26 Jul 2007 @ 10:27pm

ati IS the LOSER
ATI has been fucking ignoring all its clients for years!
Calls to its support center amount to nothing!
Its CATALYST and MEDIA CENTER software is full of fucking bugs that crash windows all the time.
I have their 9600x AIW card which would work fine as long as the morons who write the software at ATI knew what the fuck they were doing!
ATI is a prime example of a computer hardware and software company who doesn not give a flying fuck about anyone who uses their products.
That, to me is a reason to dump their sorry ass in the gutter and use ANYTHING else BUT anything made or written by them!
Now who out there agrees with me!?
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