“Rumors are flying once again that Apple may drop Intel for AMD to supply the maker of personal computers with microprocessors, but hardly anyone is talking,” Brian R. Hook reports for MacNewsWorld.
“The latest round of speculation follows a report by AppleInsider that AMD representatives have been spotted several times exiting meetings with Apple’s top brass,” Hook reports. “The meetings reportedly included AMD briefings that spurred work in Apple labs that may lead to placement of the chips inside some upcoming Apple products, AppleInsider reported, citing ‘people familiar with the matter.'”
“If the rumor is true, it is probably a negotiating tactic on the part of Apple, Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group, told MacNewsWorld,” Hook reports. “If Apple were to dump Intel, it might actually be in the market to buy AMD, Enderle suggested. ‘AMD is relatively cheap,’ he said, ‘and Apple could afford to buy it.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Specious.
MacDailyNews Note: Just for informational purposes: Apple’s market value is currently $222.37 billion and they are a debt-free company with $40+ billion in the bank. AMD’s market value is $6.92 billion.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Kevin P.” for the heads up.]
Once I see the name Enderle attached to an article, it loses all credibility.
Well, it *would* fit with Apple’s desire to control as much of its hardware as possible – though it would raise a whole new set of problems and challenges, as an Apple-owned AMD would still have to do a lot of catching up to where Intel is today.
I’m thinking it’s a negotiating tactic (and I’m cringing at the very idea of me agreeing with Enderle on anything).
Why would anyone ask Enderle about anything?. Guy is a pathetic bag of wind.
AMD’s #1 problem is its bland, uninspired name. Apple should buy it and fix that!
So in other words, if a Jehovah’s Witness happens to ring the Enderle doorbell, we should start a rumor that Enderle is considering changing his religion.
Rob, get back on your meds- NOW!
This would be the ultimate lockout
As I’ve always understood it, AMD has never been a company that emphasized efficiency. I might be wrong, but I thought this because apple went with intel because they saw how efficient they were working (power per watt or something like that). So, if they bought it, they would have to revamp the whole line up to reflect apple’s desire to have efficient processors.
Enderle is a fucking idiot.Designing a chip in-house and having someone build it for their tightly controlled mobile offerings is one thing. Owning an entire chip company just to … what? Go head to head with intel? Own all of AMD’s infrastructure just to get chips for their laptops?
These AMD rumors concern me. Just bought the i5 because I assume it’s the next era of chips for the next 3 years (like the Core2 Duo has been). I’d hate to be stuck on an island with a chip that will prematurely age and/or not be able to run future OSes if they did indeed switch to AMD sometime soon.
Or is there something else going on here as Enderle suggests? I’d hate to think he was right about something!
another set of rumour milling
seriously, it’s probably a new ATI graphics card apple wants to use
I can totally see this happening.
AMD does not manages as much technology as Intel. AMD depends on IBM for various process and designs (45nm was a IBM process, not AMD).
Could be good idea if apple plans to build their own A4 chips. and eventually their own x86 chips.
But if they buy AMD, they’d also be buying ATI… Doesn’t make sense especially with Apple’s recent move towards NVIDIA GPU’s…
“Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group,” which consists of Rob, his wife and his dog.
Buying AMD is a longterm investment first chip in 3 years or so but graphic cards from day one!
Apple has thier own energysavings tecnology so no worries there.
In house manufacturing of the A4 chip sounds too sweet.
Apple acquiring AMD is not going to happen. The world is full of chip manufacturers, especially S. Korea, Japan and China. They are constantly building cutting-edge factories, heavily subsidized by governments and clamoring for Apple’s business.
Apple has the clout to demand their own chip designs, and yet make them cheaper overseas.
The only reason for Apple to even consider buying AMD is to screw Dell, HP, et al., who use AMD’s bargain basement chips in their bargain basement Windoze PCs. If Intel were the only game in town, the Windoze cloners would have to raise their prices.
Enderle is even more full of crap than this Iranian cleric who claims promiscuous women cause earthquakes.
No credibility, no news.
Enderlebutt been quiet. We missed you and your inane rantings about Apple.
DO IT!!!!!!!
Why is it specious? It actually makes some sense. It would give them greater control over their entire product line. It’s not outside their core competencies. Having all that engineering talent could help them differentiate their products even more from the generic PC world and more or less complete their vertical integration. The budget PC market is going to die over the next few years with the advent of tablet form computers, so AMD might be open for a buyout. Apple has hinted that their stockpile of cash is ready for big bold moves – this would certainly qualify as one.
This would totally mess up Cray and SGI.
just my $0.02
@Wall-e
Have a look at AMD`s recent line of processors, especially ones marked with an “e” at the end of the model number. I do on occasion like to get my hands dirty and build a computer (notice I did`nt say PC). Recently I decided to build a linux based media center using Sabayon Linux which include XBMC. When shopping for parts, specifically the CPU I wanted a multicore low wattage part and the only one that fit the bill for me was the Athlon II X3 405e, its a tri-core that only uses 45W of power and reviews have shown that watt for watt it would smoke a similarly priced intel, actually intel has no competing product in that space, so in short good value, runs cool, and for my purposes fast enough.