Dell executive denies AMD chip-pact talk
Reuters Company News - April 06, 2000 13:21
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NEW YORK, April 6 (Reuters) - A top Dell Computer Corp.
executive on Thursday denied Wall Street speculation that the personal computer maker
was in talks to cement a major microprocessor supply deal with Advanced Micro Devices
Inc. .
"That's not true," Dell Vice Chairman Kevin Rollins told
Reuters during Dell's annual meeting with Wall Street analysts.
Rollins was responding to speculation by a Wall Street analyst that Dell was "in serious
supply discussions" with AMD, a distant No. 2 to Intel Corp. in the market to supply
semiconductors to makers of personal computers.
Dell, the world's No. 2 personal computer maker, is Intel's top customer, and it is the only
major computer maker not to use AMD processors in its machines.
Salomon Smith Barney analyst Jonathan Joseph said in a research note Thursday that
Dell was moving forward with
developing a consumer-oriented system based on AMD's new Athlon high-speed chip,
perhaps as soon as May or June.
But Rollins said the speculation was not true.
"There's no change in direction," Rollins said. "We meet with AMD every month. We've
been pretty consistent over five years telling analysts the same thing. This comes up at
every meeting, but there is no news, no announcement."
AMD shares, delayed at the start of trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange
because of an imbalance of orders, were 3-7/16 higher at 71-7/16. Earlier the stock had
traded as high as 74 -- a new all-time high.
Dell shares were also higher on Nasdaq, trading up 41/64 at 54-9/16. Intel shares were
down 1-5/8 at 128-1/4. |
