Comments on: AMD taunts Intel, hoists EU flag

AMD is flying the EU flag on its home page. And if the image doesn't convey the message, the caption certainly does.

[cp256]

I used to love AMD, but they need to get their schidt together and start making a better processor. The EU needs a slapdown, those puffy headed pooch screwers need a continent sized dose of reality.

[bmanrique]

Cheap shot, Brooke. Yes Intel has 10 fabs if not more and can afford to make 32nm sooner than AMD, but so what? It's the ideas, and the technology what counts. Bottom line is, Intel had to follow AMDs lead and vision, or perish.

[AMD71]

I work for AMD and yes it is pretty tacky but times are tough and we are fighting to stay afloat. So any win is a good win.

[viper396]

What exactly is AMD celebrating? When everything is said and done will AMD see any of that judgement? Nope.

In the end, AMD is still responsible for their own business. They are the ones who need to make a product compelling enough for people to want to buy. People will buy want they want to buy and nobody was holding a gun to anyone's head and forcing them to buy Intel. Plus, there are many people who really do not appreciate AMD flying a EU flag on their homepage. Many people just saw this as just a convenient opportunity for the EU to use yet another US company as a cash cow.

[jpmccloud01]

Look let's face it, when AMD and Cyrix released actual CPU's some 10 yrs ago a lot of people probably jumped up and down even if they at first where not at top standards. Then jump to 4 yrs ago When AMD was giving INTEL a run for it's money, which lasted up until 13/4 yrs ago. The biggest problem with AMD and INTEL, is that AMD has not been able to really hold position even though the primary design of it's processors is more logical and INTEL's prices are still higher. If AMD wants to hold and become stronger in the market and if any other company really wants to compete, then they have to not just be a cheaper alternative, but a leap frog more capable to INTEL. That is better for them and all of us.

[fooldog01]

Maybe I am the only one who sees it this way but it seems a bit silly to be boasting this way when AMD has been getting destroyed by Intel for quite some time in the slightly important performance category. They are healthy for the market but maybe instead of spending money updating their site to brag about Intel being fined they should focus on coming out with something that can actually rival the i7 in the real world. Or maybe they are happy living off of Intel's scraps and selling to people who want to save some cash. Who knows. It just seems like a foolish and unprofessional move to me.

[gnesterenko]

I love all the comments on what AMD "Should" do now. Here the problem with that - you should be saying "this is what AMD should have started about 2-3 years ago", because that's what we are seeing - these chips that are out now are the result of work that was started years back. So my guess is that AMD saw what was going on about 2-3 years ago (Intel gaining ground in performance sector) and set their sights on the mainstream/budget segments as those are much larger and easier to penetrate. So what we'll see over the next year is what we've been seeing with the Phenom II: excellent all-around performance in a lower-cost segment, fully integrated solution (chipset/CPU/GPU), and high overclockability. If they get lucky, the chips that were meant to be mainstream will be good enough to compete even in the performance/unthusiast segment (kind of like the RV770). We'll see I guess.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

[eeldo2]

As a consumer of technology, I'm less worried about what AMD says about the decision. I'm more worried about the EU decision itself. I'm scratching my head to understand how I was hurt by Intel's efforts. I just purchased a new system from Dell, and I was shocked (in a good way) in the amount of computer I could get for my dollar.

The EU coming after a US company. AMD should be careful about what it wishes fore. They could be the next target in their sites.

[Haasbat]

I think the point was, Intel was being anti-competitive over a period of time, in the past (approx 2004-2006?), and the legal system being what it is, the judgement was finally made. My understanding was, this is when AMD had good chips, but they couldn't move them because Intel was offering cash incentives to their big OEM's to keep AMD off their PC's. Where, the manufacturers (eg: Dell) could have gotten AMD chips for cheaper, Intel paid cash to keep that from happening. Why Intel wouldn't just lower their price? I don't know. Maybe because I misunderstood something. Or maybe it's more convenient to enter into deals that keep rivals out completely, preventing choice. And choice is democracy. And capitalism is economic democracy. For everyone who claims it's un-America for the EU to fine an American company, don't forget that AMD is too, and choice is good [AND America], and that's what AMD offers. I got a Dell laptop when Intel had awful chips. I wanted a laptop with an AMD, but they weren't common (still aren't). That Intel process gave me more problems than any other machine I ever had. I eventually convinced Dell that the processor was not able to be fixed, and I needed a new machine. It took some phone calls, but eventually I got one. Now I have a nice dual-core from Intel, and it's usually great. But would Intel have made tech leaps without the image of AMD gaining in the rearview a few years ago? Not sure any of us can answer that.

[Jefferson101]

Pretty sad for a business to taunt another one like that. My Xenon's are the cats meow!

[douggdangger]

I used to like AMD but they need to get their act together and come up with something better than Intel or just continue to make low end cpu & gpus.

The EU are a bunch of communist thugs. Intel should give them the middle finger and stop selling their goods to that piece of **** continent. I'm sure the rest of the world would welcome Intel with open arms.

I would enjoy watching them sip their latte while using their slow ass AMD laptops. LOL!

[jsnowbordr47]

I'll agree that Intel did kinda fall asleep at the wheel during the Pentium4/Athlon days. However, since then, it has been all Intel. AMD has yet to come out with anything that can take on the Core Duo architecture.

Let's not dwell on the past, let's look at now and the future, and right now Intel is #1 in sales and performance and is building the best chips (in terms of power consumption/processing power output) in the business. And it doesn't look like that will change in the near future. And with Macs now using Intel chips, Intel dominates even in the creative content creation industry.

AMD seems to be dwelling on its past success with the Athlon processor. But once we started to get to dual core/64bit chips, it's like they just stopped trying. They may have started something with their initial dual core processors, but what's the point of starting something, if you're not going to finish it. They've let Intel finish the transitioning of consumers to dual-core processing technology, and Core 2 Duo is now the industry standard for a Dual Core 64bit processor for consumer computers.

By the way, I have used AMD processors in the past, and I'm not an Intel Zealot by any means. I was against the whole Mac's using Intel instead of PowerPC chips in the beginning. And in the 90's I used to build cheap gaming rigs using AMD K6 Processors. My most recent purchase was an HP laptop running an AMD 64 X2 processor. And when I downgraded it from Vista to XP 64bit and ran it against my 1st gen Macbook Pro running an Intel Core Duo 32bit processor, I found them very comparable performance wise, despite the fact that the Macbook had a slower 1.83ghz processor and only 512mb of ram, vs the HP with a 2.0ghz processor and 2gb of ram.

And I've done similar comparisons with my uncles Fujitsu Notebook running at similar speeds to my 2nd gen MacBook Pro with a Core 2 Duo 64bit processor with similar ram specs both running XP 64bit, and my Macbook Pro with the Core 2 blew the AMD 64 X2 out of the water. Running Adobe CS3

[pithenumber]

they already have something that can compete with Core 2's
Phenom II
Ph2 720 stands out, nice overclocker, 3 cores, dirt cheap
beats the crap out of the E8400 and sometimes edges ahead of the E8500 sometimes


I do agree that AMD's laptop chips suck though

[tipoo_]

Wow...I didn't expect this kind of gloating from AMD, but somehow its exiting. Whenever Nvidia's (crazy) CEO says something about Intel, Intel is quick to rebuke it. I wonder what Intel will say about this.

[LairdDrambeg]

So what's wrong with having a little prod at Intel over their failure to lobby the EU into submission? It's not as if Intel is reticent about having a little gloat when it feels the need. If this is a gloat, a rather loaded term to me, it's at the expense, not of Intel, but the lazy, corrupt FTC of the past few years. If the FTC had gotten its thumb out of its collective rectum -- not forgetting Congress' malignant neglect of the subject -- at the appropriate point and squelched the Intel Reverse Payola scheme, there would not be this discussion.

As for your 32nm jibe, if AMD had gotten a fair ROI for its considerable contribution with AMD64, Direct Connect Architecture & HyperTransport, they would have had sufficient finds to already have built their 3rd Fab in the US; Intel would not have had the clout to shut AMD out of industry standards setting discussions & organizations. Have you forgotten uhh, YAMHILL? Umm, that was the Intel skunkworks which came up with EMT64, which Intel denied existed for 2 years, until they were finally embarrassed into acknowledging that it was really a necessary product... before they were finally embarrassed into admitting that NetBurst was really NetBust... before they were finally embarrassed into admitting that AMD64 was a superior technology... which will dominate the PC architecture for the foreseeable future.

In case you are in any doubt here, if Intel had had its way, round about two years ago you would have had to throw away all your PC software and learn the new religion called EPIC: after filling the corporate server rooms with Itanium boat-anchors, Intel would have pushed its, now failed, Itanium on to the desktop... and you, we, I, would have been in a world of untold suffering. Talk about a weepin' and a wailin' and a gnashing of teeth.

The sad things here are: 1) AMD will see little benefit from the EU ruling and its penalties - the money will disappear into the EC coffers; 2) AMD was damaged catastrophically by the dirtiest, quasi-criminal tricks seen in the history of the semiconductor industry... damage which cannot now be reversed; 3) from the comments seen here, many people have no idea how they were duped, nor how much they owe AMD for saving them from the Intel dark side.

[Earthquake152]

In a way, it's good that AMD is there, since that forces Intel to regulate their prices and advance more quickly. Right now, Intel is totally kicking AMD's butt, so all this talk about how "we beat you before" is a load of bullcrap. If someone says that, the thing that I think of is, "yeah, you DID, but not anymore." AMD should stop talking about what they did and focus on what they're doing now. AMD really needs to come out with a better cpu or drop their cpus to extremely low prices (like sub-100) if they want to keep up.