nihil,
Excellent post.
<The key to their survival is their ability to create and manufacture competitive chips with superior price/performance to Intel.>
Unfortunately, it's even more than just being able to "create and manufacture". Competitors need to create/design, manufacture, market, and sell.
A point that I have stressed for years on these threads and which most AMD/Cyrix investors still don't understand (witness their constant use of benchmarks) is that there is a huge difference between making a product and selling it. Look at Betamax, OS/2, Macintosh, etc.
It has been AMD's pricing/marketing strategy, more than their products, that has destroyed the company. AMD's engineering has been very respectable, especially given their limited resources. Unfortunately, they are battling a giant with nearly unlimited resources (i.e. very deep pockets) and have tried to take them head-on. This is not the correct strategy for the reasons you cited.
Intel controls this game. It's very simple.... during good times or improving times (like Q3) Intel's competitors may make a little money and do better. At the same time Intel will kick serious butt. When things slow down or turn soft, Intel will make a few hundred million dollars less and Intel's competitors will continue losing money they can't afford to.
FF |
