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

To: Kevin K. Spurway who wrote (27739)	1/7/1998 5:04:00 PM
From: Joey Smith	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1572561

Anyone else here that can't believe what LB did to AMD? Talk about manipulation. Giving a 1-day target to $24 and then DOWNGRADING the next day. Saying that AMD .25 will slip at least 3 months, and now saying everything back on track and they might finish by June 3 months ahead of Intel. Of course, they did say that the .25 is still early in production and there are many risks so as to give them a way out when problems do arise. give me a break. if anything should be investigated, its the SEC investigating LB. joey

To: Kevin K. Spurway who wrote (27739)	1/7/1998 5:07:00 PM
From: Julian Wang	Respond to of 1572561

To ALL: I am not sure this article has been posted or not. I think this article has some information your guys maybe interested. Regards, Julian Wang ============================================================ ****AMD Ships Quarter-Micron K6 Processors 01/07/98 Newsbytes, Wednesday, January 07, 1998 at 15:27 SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1998 JAN 7 (NB) -- By Craig Menefee, Newsbytes. Advanced Micro Devices [NYSE:AMD] has announced it started shipping AMD-K6 processors based on 0.25-micron process technology in the final quarter of last year. However, the first shipments of 266 megahertz (MHz) and 233MHz chips were snagged by IBM and Compaq, and never reached general supply channels. The first chips were fabricated in the company's Submicron Development Center (SDC) in Sunnyvale, California. AMD spokesperson David Frink told Newsbytes that production is now being shifted to the firms Fab 25 plant in Austin, Texas. "It's the next generation process technology," Frink said. "We use the same equipment but the change in process technology shrinks the product, gives us more dyes per wafer with reduced thermal characteristics, and enables higher clock speeds. So it's a major shift." He added, "Our goal for the transition is to be starting only quarter-micron wafers in the fab by the end of the second quarter of 1998." Frink said AMD had delayed announcing the 0.25-micron chip production last quarter in deference to IBM and Compaq, both of which on Tuesday announced PC products based on the AMD-K6 processors. IBM got the 266MHz chips for desktop PCs while the 233MHz chips, for mobile PCs, went to Compaq, said AMD in an announcement. The new IBM product is a 266MHz Aptiva E46 consumer PC, while the Compaq is a 233MHz Presario 1621 notebook PC. AMD stumbled somewhat last year, when it failed to make its production targets for 0.35-micron chips. Asked about production levels for the new quarter-micron chips, Frink told Newsbytes: "We won't disclose specific unit numbers, but obviously they're high enough for IBM and Compaq to launch their products." Frink said as the transition to quarter-micron process technology progresses, the chips, which run cooler and at a lower voltage at any given clock speed, will begin to hit the general distribution channels. He said AMD expects volume production from the Austin Fab25 plant should become generally available by the end of March. Asked if quarter-micron process technology will affect AMD's planned transition from Socket 7 design to what it calls Super 7 designs, Frink said it would not. He said the Super 7 design, which is pin-compatible with Socket 7 but incorporates advanced graphic port (AGP) features and higher bus speeds, will be phased-in during the coming year. "Use of the AMD-K6 processor by companies such as Compaq and IBM validates the AMD-K6 value proposition, which is to provide the highest possible performance at any given price point," stated Rob Herb, vice president and co-general manager of AMD's Computation Products Group. Reported by Newsbytes News Network: newsbytes.com . (19980107/Press & Reader Contact: David Frink, AMD, 512-602-4360, E-mail david.frink@amd.com; or Scott Allen, AMD, 408-749-3311, E-mail scott.allen@amd.com)

To: Kevin K. Spurway who wrote (27739)	1/7/1998 5:09:00 PM
From: Paul Engel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572561

Kevin - Re: "...even though it is foregoing greater profits on the desktop in the short run." Yes - AMD is in a position to forego greater profits - after all, they are in business to bring low cost computing to the masses - and not make money for their shareholders. Paul

To: Kevin K. Spurway who wrote (27739)	1/7/1998 6:49:00 PM
From: DRBES	Respond to of 1572561

RE: "Comments?" If AMD could make enough 300's to sell commercially, they would. So far, they have only been able to turn out only very small #s from Sunnyvale. Pretty much the same situation as iNTEL last May, only iNTEL pre-announced a product that could not be found in the marketplace for some time. Regards, DARBES

To: Kevin K. Spurway who wrote (27739)	1/8/1998 12:30:00 AM
From: Bill Jackson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1572561

Kevin, Since Compaq has committed a product to AMD, one might think they know what they are doing, and that AMD has the parts. It might in fact be a good idea to keep Intel in the dark about numbers shipped/speeds etc and with Compaq planting them who needs to know, especially Intel? No problem keeping the shareholders in the dark if it leads to greater profits. There must be a reason why Intel was forced to cut prices ahead of time? they(Intel) have a zillion unsold in stock perhaps?, those parts are falling in value so quickly that the only way to move them is to cut the prices. I wonder if this will induce Compaq to desert AMD?, I suspect not, as Compaq has been fired on by Intel before, and they did not like it at all, which is why the large(for AMD) volume is shipping quietly to Compaq with little fanfare in the press. Intel knows though, and is disquieted about it, as they are quite vulnerable as long as AMD is small, and the disproportionation of trying to wipe out a tiny competitor by price cuts seems to be failing. (by disproportionation, I mean losing $15-20 for each $1 you cost AMD is a disproportional cost, and might only be justified if the victory is worth that price, it might also be called a pyhhric loss if it does not work, also called an utter defeat). There is some market basis behind the decline in Intel lately, and I suspect it will continue as the market is counting that $15-20 loss and factoring it into account. Bill

To: Kevin K. Spurway who wrote (27739)	1/8/1998 3:13:00 AM
From: greg nus	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572561

Kevin the Spur, (27739) My assessment is the AMD recognizes the upper end of the box market is flat. Where as Notebook market segment is cooking with 30% growth up untill the Intel chip backup. Notebook boxmakers may have stoped buying Intel after amd shipped them engineering smaples including samples at .25u comos. It's an easier sale with less price competition for now. Meanwhile AMD continues to convert to full .25u CMOS and ramps up production. Screw the earnings for now and drive everything for market share. What can AMD loose now that the stock has already colapsed.