Open Minded Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 http://www.eteknix.com/samsung-allegedly-acquire-amd/ Reports are coming in that Samsung, leading technology giant from South Korea has allegedly attempted to buy out AMD to compete head-on with Intel. With the buyout, Samsung will attempt to merge it with one of its subsidiaries. The logic behind this is to secure both CPU and GPU IP from AMD, then use that information to fuel future growth for the company. This will all add up to one super giant taking on Intel and Qualcomm head on. This isn +Asmodai 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Interesting! I hope the 300 series cards still come out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Overlord Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 To answer your question, no, this is news to me Opinion, probably a bad idea, especially if Samsung are just after IP. Love or hate amd, they were the closest thing to competition for Intel. Without competition, a monopolised market can charge whatever they like, as the consumer would have little choice but to pay Excuse me, I've taken a lot of cold medicine and may have rambled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitmz Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 dude if thats true then it sucks bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Minded Posted March 25, 2015 Author Share Posted March 25, 2015 dude if thats true then it sucks bad Well, I'm not sure about that. Samsung has more money than AMD, they have their own fabs, design their own CPUs, manufacture memory and other components... They might be the ones to really challenge Intel and ARM (Qualcomm and Apple mainly) and drive some real competition in the mobile and desktop markets. I would be sad if AMD lost its name like ATi did during the buyout. I'm trying to look on the bright side, though. theyarecomingforyou 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAZMINATOR Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 To answer the question in the title you made. No they didn't buy yet. They are talking (or spreading the rumor) about squiring AMD at the moment. If they bought it, they will post their news on their websites under the newsroom or press release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Asmodai MVC Posted March 25, 2015 MVC Share Posted March 25, 2015 I haven't heard that and my google-fu only got me this: http://wccftech.com/amd-allegedly-merge-samsung/ I've never heard of wccftech so I have no idea how reliable they are. It's an interesting idea though. Right now Samsung has the second best fabs behind Intel (a crown they just took from TSMC) but they don't have their own CPU/GPU designs. Instead their Exynos SoC uses licensed ARM designs (Cortex CPUs and Mali GPUs) or they've even licensed PowerVR GPUs in the past. Buying AMD would give them the experience in designing custom ARM cores (like how QualComm does with Krait/Kryo or Apple with Swift/Cyclone). AMD is known to be working on their own custom ARMv8 core already. Likewise with AMD they'd be able to develop their own GPUs instead of licensing ARM or PowerVR designs. On the surface it seems like a good match to me. AMD would gain leading edge fabs and a lot of access to capital and Samsung would gain CPU/GPU design expertise. Open Minded 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenwizard88 Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Whoa. That could be really good, or really bad, depending on how Samsung handles it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitmz Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Well, I'm not sure about that. Samsung has more money than AMD, they have their own fabs, design their own CPUs, manufacture memory and other components... They might be the ones to really challenge Intel and ARM (Qualcomm and Apple mainly) and drive some real competition in the mobile and desktop markets. I would be sad if AMD lost its name like ATi did during the buyout. I'm trying to look on the bright side, though. idk i dont really trust samsung they can buy amd for the graphics and kill the desktop processor idk they are crazy lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon H Supervisor Posted March 25, 2015 Supervisor Share Posted March 25, 2015 as much as I do not like Samsung (their mobile platform that is, w/ the Galaxys') their other products (TVs SSDs ect.) are great. it would be an interesting combination that could have potential but it's still a pretty scary acquisition if it becomes reality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted March 25, 2015 MVC Share Posted March 25, 2015 This isn't in the WSJ so I'm very skeptical of if this is true... Especially since Intel has said many times in the past that they don't believe that the US Court ruling that allows AMD to exist is transferable to another owner. As such, they have said that if AMD was ever to be purchased they would revoke the x86 license AMD needs to build x86 chips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Asmodai MVC Posted March 25, 2015 MVC Share Posted March 25, 2015 This isn't in the WSJ so I'm very skeptical of if this is true... Especially since Intel has said many times in the past that they don't believe that the US Court ruling that allows AMD to exist is transferable to another owner. As such, they have said that if AMD was ever to be purchased they would revoke the x86 license AMD needs to build x86 chips. Why would Samsung care? They don't have a license to x86 now, I doubt they'd be buying AMD to get it. If this is true (and that's a big if) they're likely intersted in AMD for the engineers to make custom ARMv8 designs instead of having to license the Cortex designs from ARM like they currently do and for the GPU expertise to design their own GPUs. I don't see getting the x86 license as a make or break thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted March 25, 2015 MVC Share Posted March 25, 2015 Why would Samsung care? They don't have a license to x86 now, I doubt they'd be buying AMD to get it. If this is true (and that's a big if) they're likely intersted in AMD for the engineers to make custom ARMv8 designs instead of having to license the Cortex designs from ARM like they currently do and for the GPU expertise to design their own GPUs. I don't see getting the x86 license as a make or break thing. Because AMD losing the x86 license would really hurt their existing business... Unless they are buying AMD to gut it for some IP and shut it down this would be a very risky strategy to pursue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joni_78 Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 This isn't in the WSJ so I'm very skeptical of if this is true... Especially since Intel has said many times in the past that they don't believe that the US Court ruling that allows AMD to exist is transferable to another owner. As such, they have said that if AMD was ever to be purchased they would revoke the x86 license AMD needs to build x86 chips. Wouldn't AMD then revoke x86 64bit license from Intel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Asmodai MVC Posted March 25, 2015 MVC Share Posted March 25, 2015 Well, I'm not sure about that. Samsung has more money than AMD, they have their own fabs, design their own CPUs, manufacture memory and other components... They might be the ones to really challenge Intel and ARM (Qualcomm and Apple mainly) and drive some real competition in the mobile and desktop markets. I would be sad if AMD lost its name like ATi did during the buyout. I'm trying to look on the bright side, though. As far as I'm aware (and correct me if I'm wrong) but Samsung doesn't design their own CPUs. Maybe you mean their own SoCs? Their Exynos line of SoCs for example all feature licensed ARM designed Cortex CPUs. Perhaps they have another line of CPUs I'm not aware of though. They wouldn't challenge ARM either. I seriously doubt Samsung would try to make an entirely new architecture. They'd want AMD to custom design ARMv8 (and possibly x86) chips so they'd be using custom designs of existing architectures. This is similar to QualComm's Krait CPU and Apples Swift/Cyclone which are ARM architecture licensed but custom designed. Much as AMD x86 CPUs are x86 licensed but custom designed. I suspect they'd keep the AMD (or even bring back the ATI name) for discrete graphics cards. I doubt they'd call them Samsung Radeon cards. The AMD name would likely not be put on ARM CPUs though (if they DID get the x86 license though they might keep the AMD name for their x86 CPUs but it's not clear if they'd even keep that license) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Berry Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 What Intel and their x86_64 license from AMD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoWind Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 It might actually be a good idea because AMD and Samsung need each other. Samsung can provide enormous of resource to AMD for building a better CPU to compete with intel. It could remove the monopoly CPU market and Samsung can leverage AMD GPU expertise in creating a better android hardware. It's a WIN WIN if stick to that core strategy but very unlikely at this point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Asmodai MVC Posted March 25, 2015 MVC Share Posted March 25, 2015 Because AMD losing the x86 license would really hurt their existing business... Unless they are buying AMD to gut it for some IP and shut it down this would be a very risky strategy to pursue. I'm not sure what you mean by "gut it". AMD doesn't have fabs anymore. They're basically a bunch of engineers who design CPU/GPUs. The products already being manufactured would likely be allowed to continue even if they lost the license. They'd just be prohibited from using the license in future designs and possibly from placing more manufacturing orders for the existing designs. AMD is already designing ARM chips though so they'd just sell what they've got and then release their ARM chips going forward. Losing the x86 license wouldn't effect their graphics business at all. Just like ATI didn't make CPUs but sold graphics cards for PCs before AMD bought them. It's not clear they'd lose the x86 license though. It's true AMD licenses x86 from Intel but AMD designed x86-64 and it's a CROSS LICENSING deal not a one way street. It's likely if Intel cancelled the deal due to the buyout they'd lose the rights to parts of the 64bit extensions. Additionally having no major x86 competition may very well cause the U.S. government to launch an anti-trust investigation against them. I wouldn't really see a combined Samsung/AMD entity as a major threat to Intel in existing x86 markets. They'd likely keep around the same share AMD currently has it's the mobile segment and ARMv8 designed cores that would see the big competition IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc2k Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Doesn't this rumour surface every couple of months only to fizzle into nothingness? Raa 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGHammer Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Both AMD and Samsung are ARM licensees - so how would ARM be hurt? Samsung as an x86 licensee could sting - in the portable segment (where BayTrail T and relations are getting off the ground); in addition, Samsung would have their own source of supply for their tablets and slates (successors to the SERIES 5 and SERIES 7 - right now, they rely on Intel for supply there) AND sell into the Asia market. Samsung would want more than AMD's GPU business - that wouldn't be enough. Asia is why - because customers there want lower prices AND a variety of suppliers to KEEP those costs down - especially in the mobile/portable space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Asmodai MVC Posted March 25, 2015 MVC Share Posted March 25, 2015 To put things in perspective as far as company sizes: (Market Cap) Apple: ~740B Google: ~390B Microsoft: ~350B Samsung Electronics: > 200B Intel: ~150B nVidia: ~12B AMD: ~2B It's amazing AMD is even able to compete considering the relative size of the competition. Imagine what they could to with Samsungs resources. Acquiring AMD wouldn't be a huge merger from Samsung's perspective. AMD is around 1/100 of their size. Draconian Guppy 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Minded Posted March 25, 2015 Author Share Posted March 25, 2015 Both AMD and Samsung are ARM licensees - so how would ARM be hurt? in the portable segment (where BayTrail T and relations are getting off the ground); in addition, Samsung would have their own source of supply for their tablets and slates (successors to the SERIES 5 and SERIES 7 - right now, they rely on Intel for supply there) AND sell into the Asia market. Samsung would want more than AMD's GPU business - that wouldn't be enough. You answered you own question. ARM, in a few years, is going to lose ground to Intel (and maybe AMD). If AMD can pull off low wattage while using x86 then ARM will become more irrelevant. Intel is already showing this with Bay Trail; why buy a tablet with an ARM SoC when you can get a full-blown Windows tablet that runs x86 programs (and even Android apps) for the same price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noir Angel Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 At the moment those Bay Trail CPU's are weaker than the equivalent Snapdragon series, in terms of both graphics and computational performance they're about in line with the Snapdragon 600 series CPU's. Which is reasonable, but hardly groundbreaking. Intel are nowhere near cornering the market yet, and not everyone needs a tablet that can run X86 programs, most people just buy them for content consumption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raa Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 What? No way that's going to happen... Surely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted March 26, 2015 MVC Share Posted March 26, 2015 Wouldn't AMD then revoke x86 64bit license from Intel? Intel has more leverage with that. The x86-64 patent is an extension of the x86 patented features. So it wouldn't be all that useful on its own... But no matter how you cut it any AMD buyer would need to work with Intel to secure the x86 license under favorable terms... You definitely can't buy AMD hoping to whack Intel in a serious manner as they won't license it to you without giving themselves some serious advantages. This is why AMD has always had trouble finding buyers... For well over 20 years now. A bit more detail on the topic: http://allthingsd.com/20121013/who-would-buy-amd-a-tough-question-with-no-easy-answers/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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