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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe NYC who wrote (125259)	10/4/2000 1:14:20 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571040

Joe, I completely agree with everything you say, but we're still on separate wavelengths. I'm not sure that Sledgehammer will indeed just be two 64-bit Athlons and a north bridge all packed into one. AMD could do that, especially if they want to take the same design route as the Alpha EV7 (21364). And perhaps AMD's press releases might lead one to believe exactly that. But that would mean integrating two processor cores, a huge L2 cache (essential for servers), a north bridge, and perhaps a coherency filter (a possibility for NUMA-style architecture) all into one humongous die. It's certainly possible in a 0.13u process, but it's an extremely tall order, even for the bright AMD engineers. It might make sense just to release the first Sledgehammer w/ x86-64 extensions and LDT. Then worry about integrating the north bridge, a second core, and the kitchen sink later. Tenchusatsu

To: Joe NYC who wrote (125259)	10/4/2000 2:21:51 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1571040

Joe and thread, What trash.....where were these guys this past year when AMD was fighting to survive....suddenly they've grown cajones.....I don't think so!! ____________________________________________________________ Intel Gets No Love or Respect By Tish Williams Senior Writer 10/4/00 1:50 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO -- Now that Intel (INTC:Nasdaq - news - boards) is doubled over, it's a good time to get in a few uncontested blows to the groin. Merrill Lynch invited investors to the Regency Theater here Tuesday for a day of erudite instruction from charming business-process analyzer and Harvard Business School professor Clay Christenson and the omniscient oracle of optics George Gilder. But it didn't take long for a morning of correctly pronounced four-syllable words and thoughtfully produced multicolored graphs of "disruptive" business innovations to melt away. Christenson waltzed us through a civilized discussion on the ability of the disruptive digital signal processor business to blindside Intel -- as the chip giant unwaveringly pursues faster, more expensive chips and their higher margins. He politely inferred that Intel would have to move its keister to keep from getting kicked by fast-moving competition. His guests, on the other hand, took his words as their cue to wind up for a few swift kicks. "They're smart people, they have all the money in the world, " said Vin Dham, founder of recent Broadcom (BRCM:Nasdaq - news - boards) acquisition target Silicon Spice, in a moment of backhanded praise. "It has to do with their values and culture. If you're Intel, you almost have to change what you've stood for all your life. It's impossible to do that." No Spawning Dham went on to explain why Intel can't spawn innovation from within, wielding Christenson's words as weapons. Christenson had argued earlier that established companies' business processes and cultures are built to support their existing businesses. To pursue a disruptive opportunity, a company must give its financial and employee resources, but do so without imposing its existing culture or values. According to Dham, Intel won't be able to do so, as its built-up hierarchy hassles and constrains internal champions of new ideas. "Imagine [Intel Chairman] Andy Grove and [Broadcom CEO] Henry Nicholas. These guys can't sit down in the same room and talk to each other for more than one nanosecond," said the 15-year Intel veteran who went on to design a "Pentium killer" for AMD (AMD:NYSE - news - boards) before founding Silicon Spice. What's next, whapping Intel in its bunk with pillowcases full of soap? Are Intel's competitors seeking a little euro revenge? One little low-end chip cancellation (read: Timna) and now Big Daddy Intel is the weak member of the pack? Speaking of which -- Jim Turley, ARC Cores senior vice president of marketing, laughed in the face of Intel's low-end Timna chip cancellation tidbit, calling it a "disaster" -- a word usually saved for a nonthreatening pipsqueak, not the leader of the pack. "They bet that Rambus (RMBS:Nasdaq - news - boards) would be more popular. Then they had to build a companion chip and that didn't work so well," he pressed on. "Then the Timna chip and the companion chip cost more than the Celeron." No Respect What do the kids these days know about respect? Merrill Lynch analyst Joe Osha didn't feel sorry for Intel or its mild beating. "A lot of these guys feel abused by Intel," Osha said. One little lawsuit against Broadcom? Come on! Intel's a sweetheart once you get to know it! "I held my nose when that lawsuit came across my desk." Oh boy. (Merrill Lynch hasn't done banking for Intel, but has worked with Broadcom.) Rather than defend the chip giant, Osha got in his own knocks. He argued that Intel's recent string of high-profile news, from its revenue warning to its aggressive litigation, "may be indicative of a company that could be in the can for five to six years, like an IBM (IBM:NYSE - news - boards) or a Sony (SNE:NYSE - news - boards)." For their sake, it better not be able to defend itself in the meantime.