AMD eggs on Nvidia's war of words with Intel

Paul Hales | 16 May 2008

So the graphics card company and the CPU giant are duking it out? Could be good for us, says AMD.

The war of words that broke out between Nvidia and Intel has AMD chuckling along from the sidelines.

“One says the CPU is not important, the other says the GPU is not important. The beauty of AMD is that we provide a balance with a strong CPU and a strong GPU - the company best tailored to provided a balanced PC,” puffed Giuseppe Amato, AMD’s technical director of sales and marketing in EMEA. “We hope we see some gain from the fight these two are having together.”

Amato was talking to the INQ from AMD's Dresden fab where he'd been outlining the firm's global channel strategy to partners and selected media.

It's a more focused AMD we dealing with now, Amato explained. “This specifically channel-focused event is to enable the channel provide better value to customers." The idea was not to give “a mixed message”, he blustered.

Focus is one plank of AMD's new three-point makeover plan. “What we told analysts is what we're telling the channel," Amato said. “From AMD you can expect focus. The focus to deliver platforms that solve the problems the end user is facing."

The second pillar of wisdom is execution. The year 2007 was a bad one for AMD, Amato concedes. “We are focussing on execution. We will deliver on every commitment we make," he said. "This is a demand from the board of directors that goes all the way through the company.”

The third pillar, and one which can come in handy for a company in any line of business is profitability. "A company is not a charity concern – it must be profitable," said Amato.

Since Amato was speaking from Dresden, we asked him whether he could give the assurance that the firm's flagship fab there would never be sold.

He couldn't.

“It's like you're asking me whether a company can ever be bought or sold or not. Or that we'll never make a mistake again. Today, I cannot give you a commitment 100 per cent that AMD will never make a mistake like in 2007. We made mistakes. We implemented corrective action. We move on.

"Only one guy can give a commitment that lasts for ever and he's the one who decides that if I die, I die. Never is not a thing I can say."