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

To: Cirruslvr who wrote (57208)	5/4/1999 7:16:00 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1573061

<Doesn't either the workstation or server market also care about something like performance per cost factor? I remember reading an advertisement by Compaq that showed their Xeon system had a better factor than an HP and Sun system. Compaq made a big deal about it.> That's when you compare x86-based systems to RISC-based systems like HP, Sun, and even Compaq/Digital. The difference in the price-performance ratio is rather sizable, enough to make an IT department decide that going with x86-based servers is worth the risk of giving up on the current big boys. But the difference between two different x86-based servers is small, which makes cost a non-factor in this case. If AMD wants to compete in the x86 server arena, they must bring something to the table that makes them stand out from Intel-based servers. A 25% discount in the processor isn't going to mean much if that only translates into a 10% discount in the whole system. But a 10% discount coupled with a 10% increase in performance is something that could convince a few customers to switch from Intel to AMD, and that's all that AMD needs. Tenchusatsu

To: Cirruslvr who wrote (57208)	5/4/1999 7:25:00 PM
From: Yougang Xiao	Respond to of 1573061

Should AMD/Intel be concerned if Cyrix sold to IBM? quote.bloomberg.com National Semi Rises on Speculation It Will Sell Cyrix (Update1) National Semi Rises on Speculation It Will Sell Cyrix (Update1) (Adds analyst comment in 12th paragraph, updates shares.) Santa Clara, California, May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of National Semiconductor Corp., a maker of semiconductors for cars, telephones and computers, rose 11 percent amid speculation that it will sell all or part of its Cyrix unit, which competes with No. 1 chipmaker Intel Corp. National rose 1 7/16 to 14 9/16 in trading of 11.4 million shares, more than six times the three-month daily average. Earlier, they touched 14 7/8, their highest since Jan. 21. Speculation about a sale of Cyrix has built in recent weeks. The money-losing unit's chips compete directly with Intel's Pentiums, and many analysts say National would be better off without it. National, led by Chief Executive Brian Halla, bought Cyrix in November 1997 for $560 million in stock. ''The Cyrix rumor is heating up,'' said Bill Milton, an analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York. Alan Bernheimer, a spokesman for Santa Clara, California- based National, declined to comment on plans for Cyrix. National has lost money in the market for chips that run personal computers because rivals Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. are cutting prices rapidly to win sales. It's possible that National will sell some of the rights to Cyrix semiconductors as well as the plant in South Portland, Maine, where many of those chips are made, said analyst Erika Klauer at BT Alex. Brown Inc. in New York. ''National is going to bow out of the desktop (PC) competition,'' said Klauer, who raised her rating on National shares to ''buy'' from ''market perform'' last week. Single Chip Others said the sale is unlikely. Halla bought Cyrix with the idea of putting all the computing components of a PC on a single, low-priced chip. The company already makes similar chips for digital video disk players and other devices. In general, the fewer chips there are in an electronic device, the less costly it is to manufacture. Halla's goal has been to make a single-chip PC, based on Cyrix technology. Moreover, the plant in Maine is brand-new. ''I don't know why they would go through all this trouble to get South Portland up and running just to sell it off,'' said semiconductor analyst Tad LaFountain at Needham & Co. in New York, who rates National shares ''strong buy.'' Both LaFountain and Klauer said they're optimistic about National because sales of chips that go into mobile phones and other communications equipment are improving. Klauer last week said she expects National to earn 35 cents a share in fiscal 2000, which starts in June. Her previous estimate was for the company to break even. National had a loss of $27.2 million, or 16 cents a share, in the quarter ended Feb. 28, compared with profit from operations of $26.2 million, or 16 cents, in the year-ago period. National was expected to lose 20 cents, the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp. The company's sales fell 23 percent to $500.1 million from $650.1 million.