Seems like a desperation move on AMD's part. ATI on the other hand, not sure what their motivations are...point me to any single product line on the graphics side that ATI desperately needs some partner or support on.

Everyone seems to believe that AMD bought ATI so that they can have an integrated graphics solution like Intel's (craptastic) graphics. So may be Dell pushed AMD to make this purchase of ATI so that they have integrated graphics. And if this is the motivation for the merger, it is extremely dangerous to both ATI and AMD. Just like the fickle consumer, who is to say Dell wont change its mind down the road. Spending $5.4 billion to make Dell happy is a dubious solution at best.

I highly doubt it though. Dell already buys discrete graphics from both ATI and NVidia so its not like adding a nother vendor.

I guess time will tell whether this merger is a good idea or not. Personally, I think it is a bad idea. For all intents and purposes, all current and future ATI chipsets are now basically AMD. Opens up a lot of possibilities NVidia.

Its not exactly brain surgery to note that things like this never go well for the bought company.

And it doesnt exacly take a slide rule and a room of accountants to note amd was far too late and spent far too much and just did it at the worst possible time.

On a bit of a tangent: With shares of AMD and Intel trading around in the same price range, I'm sure WaltC is cringing as we approach what might turn out to be the first market close with one share of INTC standing higher than one share of AMD in quite some time.

Cause, you know, that's very important! To him.

pro - chance to work real close to make rather compact graphically powerful pc's or other devices.

con - both companies appear to be on the fall of their game. the x1900xt is larger, hotter, and not as powerful as the 7900gtx, gains in crossfire are lower than sli (i know it's not mainstream, but that sh!t sells!), and given the number of sli boards, people simply flock to nvidia on the wrong premise that an ati card on an nvidia board is problems. Then there's AMD, which will hurt bad due to conroe.

If they can help each other, then great, but now can't one bad manager ruin both chip and video divisions?

Wow - time for me to eat my lunch (or whatever the expression is). I thought this would NEVER happen.

My sincere apologies to Cyril for (essentially) suggesting that he was posting pulp fiction when he first started reporting on this weeks ago. Cyril, do you make stock quote suggestions? I may want to get on your investors' newsletter :)

Provided that AMD remembers Core 2, this could go well. If, during the integration of the companies, the teams developing K8L and any further advances are left alone, the effect on AMD development should be minimal, provided the entire enterprise doesn't go belly up. Unlikely as it is, we have to consider that AMD may have a proverbial bombshell in the pipeline, and is sufficiently worried about secrecy that they refuse to trust a second party with developing the necessary chipsets and motheboards. Acquiring ATI would be a very drastic move in that direction, but it is not impossible.

It could be that ATI is keenly aware of their lackluster performance in the graphics market, especially with regards to their Catalyst Control Center and drivers. They may believe that they have permanently lost face with the consumer market, and are using this merger as a way to begin removing themselves from such. What if ATI is making the move to mostly chipset and motherboard production?

Well, I sure screwed the pooch on this one...;) I still don't exactly understand what's at the heart of the merger, unless it's just a desire for AMD to increase its size and influence dramatically overnight. I've got to read up on all of this to see if I can understand it any better...

From a shacknews post...

This bodes not well. I fully expect the next generation of products, both CPU and GPU, will operate at significant inefficiency when not used together. The generation after that... They will be exclusive. Customers will be forced into an "all or nothing" situation. Intel and NVidia will probably have to partner up just to compete. Producing a similar incestuous architecture of thier own.

Why stop there? If you are going to produce a closed, controlled, optimized architecture, you might as well partner up with specific motherboard and memory manufacturers.

The customer will only have two choices. TotalSystemA or TotalSystemB. No mixing and matching. The case will be the only thing left to the consumer to decide upon. They probably won't even allow upgrades, outside of extra RAM. We will be dealing with console-like computers that that point.

That's exactly what I fear from this--less choices for the consumer.

Wonder if nV will drop nForce for AMD or if they will stick with it...

Lol, people never learn. I always get a kick out of people saying a rumor will come to pass or it will not. Not only is it a complete guess but it is 50/50 anyways.

And those same people turn around and are already saying one company will fail (looks like ATI). Just let the rumor do its thing, no reason to break out the crystal ball, you are going to get it wrong eventually.

This, together with what you read about AMD's plans for future sockets and interconnects, it could get crazy...

This just doesn't make any sense at all to me. I wonder what critical detail I missed?

The problem is that it takes AMD eye off the ball. AMD doesn't have the resources to be able to focus on several things at once. Right now, they are behind intel in chip design. If they are tied up in integrating their products with ATi and coming up with integrated solutions, the don't have the resources to be finding a way to beat the Core 2 platform.

AMD will wind up a full generation behind intel for a while as a result of this merger.

This combination means accelerated growth for ATI, and broader horizons for our employees," said Dave Orton,

"Broader horizons" translates to: unemployment.

All redundant employees like sales, marketing, advertising, etc. will be gone.

Looks like quite a few ATi employees will be getting the axe over the next couple years. Lets all hope the team responsible for their poorly performing OpenGL drivers and the abominable Catalyst Control Center are the first to go.

Goodbye ATI.. it was nice knowing you.
:(
Somehow i feel the ATI we knew and loved is lost forever.......

I swear I think I'm the only person that thinks this is a decent idea for both ATI and AMD. I won't say again my reasons for this since I've stated them numerous times before, but I will say a LOT of people must be eating crow right now that vehemently said this rumour was BS and the Inq is completely wrong and full of crap.

New thought: it's not just IGP and the platform thing. AMD does not want to be just a "2nd supplier in CPUs" anymore. Chimpzilla wants to grow up like Chipzilla does over the years. Now they are more mirror-like each other. It wants to be a beast of its own?

"Whatever they have we want it too!" ??

wow, the rumors were true.

Just alittle note, remember stockholders and the FCC or whatever its called have to approve aswell before this is reality.

Calm down people, this a business move only, to help AMD expand their produect line (possible new chipset) and fund their CPU expansion in the market.

First of all a cpu/gpu intergration doesn't make any practical sense, what are we talking about, a chip with a billion transistors? I don't think so.

Second both chips are created completely different, where are the pixel pipelines supposed to go in a cpu?

It's business, expect more AMD/ATI advertising, faster production, more products, higher stock price. But thats all, which isn't a bad thing, it's a good thing.

If AMD make ATI put out a load of nice, cheap, low power chipsets with open specs and decent performance then great - AMD will finally have the kind of one-stop integrated platform that makes system builders weak at the knees. nVidia will still be competing in the high end and enthusiast markets with AMD.

I just hope to hell that AMD can teach ATI a thing or two about chipset design and not the other way around. One good thing is that if AMD can spare fab capacity for chipsets then yields will be high and power consumption low, even on their aging 90nm process.

I'm guessign that open specs for the 3D acceleration is too much to ask for though. Sigh.

When I first read the rumor back in May I believed. Sometimes The Inq gets it right.

Dell made them do it.

New business opportunities: game console, CPU/GPU in a neat package; faster speed GPUs due to better technology + Chartered Semi option; reliable platform available at CPU launch for business PCs; much better integrated graphics for Vista; Apple? Dell? Ati supplies both, may help in the long run; probably more that I have missed. The businesses are complimentary, their integration will require minimal layoffs, mostly in administration. No loss in products/revenues. Considering that AMD and Ati are the survivors of what once was a large number of competing firms they know what is required to thrive in the marketplace. Their failure would leave *ntel with no competition and that is not good for the consumer. I will buy only AMD as long as performance/price is right, just as I have for the past 14 years. I don't think AMD looks after my interests but *ntel needs a competitor to behave.

damn i was hoping for an announcment of eye-popping price cuts

I suspect the real reason behind this buy-out is that AMD will finally get their own intergrated graphics/chipset solution akin to Intel. This move makes it very clear that AMD is after the average joe segiment for this round. They know that C2D will have the ethusiast segiment secure for a while, but it is small fry compaired to the mainstream segiment. AMD finally has the OEM backbone that they sorely lacked during the K7 days. If you want acutal proof, just visit any B&M store and see 50/50 split on Intel/AMD based rigs from any major OEM. I doubt ICM will change it overnight, but more likely take a year to start reclaiming B&M shelf space.

This could just aswell be the end of the GPU race with nVidia as the sole surviour. And with AMD+Intel for IGP and the whole platform. Byebye SiS and VIA aswell.

ATI's lost their license to produce chipsets for Intel processors - leaving room for nVidia to be the only long-term dual-GPU chipset provider on the Intel platform - this announcement is not bad for nVidia. I'm sure they'll continue to make chipsets for the AMD platform as well.

This deal provides AMD with two things they didn't have: A decent consumer chipset unit (which will make many people happy), and a graphics unit. Intel has both, and appears to be improving their graphics significantly, and promising far better graphics in the next year or two - AMD cannot afford to be out of this game.

I read once that Intel and AMD's processes are still head and shoulders above UMCs and TSMCs at the same process node - could this benefit ATI's GPU operations as well - if a SOI GPU on a good process could give ATI a noticable lead over nVidia, and access to new processes quicker...

I don't really hold with the Inquirer's micro-core reasoning article however.