The Verge - What's next for AMD?

AMD Jaguar: the Xbox One and PS4 guts that could power your next cheap laptop

2013-05-23T04:29:21Z

AMD boasted that its Z-60 Hondo chip would bring Call of Duty to thin tablets, and its boasts were for naught, but it looks like the company's latest processor core is going to see a lot of use in the next generation of cheap laptops. Today, AMD has revealed its basic performance claims for its Jaguar core, the same one that's reportedly built into the chips in both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The resulting Temash and Kabini APUs could finally have the combination of performance and battery life you'd need in an inexpensive Windows 8 tablet or laptop.

While some of AMD's charts are a little misleading out of context, this one is fairly straightforward: AMD claims that its low-power Temash system-on-chip simultaneously manages to...

PlayStation 4 tech specs revealed: AMD 'Jaguar' CPU, faster Blu-ray, 720p 3D camera

2013-02-21T02:43:01Z

We still have absolutely no idea what the PlayStation 4 looks like, but we're getting a better picture of what's within: Sony's just released a list of tech specs for the console. Confirming months of rumors, the PS4 will primarily have AMD silicon inside, in the form of a "single-chip custom processor" with eight AMD Jaguar CPU cores, and a next-gen Radeon graphics engine capable of 1.84 teraflops of performance.

Here's the full spec sheet:

Single-chip custom processor, with eight x86-64 AMD Jaguar CPU cores and 1.84 TFLOPS next-gen AMD Radeon based graphics engine
8GB GDDR5 memory
Built-in hard drive
6x Blu-Ray and 8x DVD drive
USB 3.0 and auxiliary ports
Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.1
HDMI, analog...

AMD hires Apple and Qualcomm senior engineers in bid to expand into new markets

2013-01-22T12:13:35Z

AMD is hiring two senior engineers who previously worked at the company earlier in their careers before heading to rivals. Wayne Meretsky, a technical lead for Mac OS at Apple before joining AMD in 1999, returned to AMD once again in December after a stint at a robotics company and other roles. Reuters reports that Charles Matar is also returning to AMD as vice president of System-on-Chip Development following his departure from Qualcomm.

The two hires, described by AMD as an effort to expand into new markets, come shortly after former Apple chip designer Jim Keller joined AMD as chief architect in August last year. AMD has been losing money, struggling to get its chips into PCs, and two rounds of layoffs saw the company let key execs...

AMD plans to sell 58-acre Austin campus and lease back space to raise cash during hard times

2012-11-28T22:58:16Z

It's not surprising in the least that AMD is in trouble, but if any doubts remained, this week's news that the chipmaker will sell its Austin, Texas campus and lease it back to raise cash should be a clear indicator. According to the Austin American-Statesman, AMD is in the planning stages of making a deal that would see its massive 58-acre Lone Star Campus — opened in 2008 — sold for an expected $150 to $200 million. The company would then sign a deal to lease back the space, which it built for an estimated $270 million, for 12 to 15 years, liquidizing some of its real estate assets and adding to its dwindling reserves of cash.

Such a deal was previously rumored by Sterne Agee analyst Vijay Rakesh, and AMD spokesman Drew Prairie t...

What happened to AMD?

2012-11-15T14:01:03Z

There's blood in the water, and the sharks are circling around. AMD is in trouble, to the point where buyout rumors sound credible even when they turn out to be false. AMD's having trouble putting its processors into computers people want to buy. The company's losing money and some key personnel are abandoning ship. Under new management and after two rounds of layoffs, the stock price is practically as low as it's ever been, except once in late 2008 when the company was struggling to rid itself of tremendous debt amid the global recession.

It wasn't always this way.

Seven years ago, AMD processors ran circles around the Intel chips in their price range. AMD had arguably surpassed Intel in engineeringBy 2005, AMD had not merely become...

AMD CEO denies sale, says company is 'on the right path' in leaked memo

2012-11-13T23:59:44Z

Earlier today we reported that AMD was considering an outright sale following its disappointing Q3 results last month. Well, CEO Rory Read quickly responded to the rumors with an internal email reinforcing the company's earlier official statement, saying "let me personally reinforce to you: we are not actively pursuing the sale of AMD or any of our significant assets. It's full steam ahead with our strategy … we absolutely are on the right path."

A likely reason the buyout rumor could not have been true to begin with comes courtesy of Seeking Alpha. AMD Vice President Lisa Su engaged in a major stock transaction in the days preceding the rumor, which, if she knew the company was exploring a sale, would amount to insider trading. The...

Reuters: AMD hires JP Morgan to explore options, including possible outright sale

2012-11-13T21:11:47Z

AMD's woes are continuing today with news that the company has hired JP Morgan Chase to explore its options — one of which is a sale of the company. Reuters cited three sources "familiar with the situation" who say that a complete sale of the company is not a priority. Instead, other options like selling of its portfolio of patents may be more likely.

AMD has long been in a battle with Intel for desktop and laptop processor dominance, but with the rise of mobile computing and the ARM chips that power them, AMD has suffered greatly. Last month the company confirmed that it planned to lay off 15 percent of its workforce, and earnings have consistently been disappointing, with the company pulling in 25 percent less revenue year-over-year...

AMD loses $157 million on $1.27 billion revenue in Q3, will lay off 15 percent of workers

2012-10-18T20:22:58Z

We'd heard AMD would have bad news this quarter, and here it is: a quarterly loss of $157 million, revenues down 10 percent, and a 15 percent workforce reduction. Today, AMD reported Q3 2012 revenue of $1.27 billion, a 10 percent decrease since last quarter and 25 percent since this time last year.

As a result, AMD's announcing a restructuring plan today, letting go of approximately 15 percent of the company's workforce this quarter. That should translate to about 1,700 fewer employees, as the company employed 11,813 workers as of September. Last November, the company laid off 1,400 employees, and has lost many executives as of late. AMD CFO Thomas Seifert departed just last month. The company says it hopes to save $20 million in Q4 and...