AMD first unveiled its new Hawk Point processors at its AI event in December, now branded as the Ryzen 8040 series of APUs. Ahead of CES this week in Vegas, the company briefed me on some new performance metrics of interest that it plans to show off in its exhibit area, across a range of AI tests, content creation, and gaming.
Read MoreStarting off the company’s “Accelerate AI” event held in San Jose yesterday, CEO Lisa Su tried to squelch some of that debate. One of the first slides she showed described how the projected TAM (total addressable market, or the market size to which AMD could potentially target with its chips) for data center AI accelerators through 2027 has increased from $150B to a projected $400B in just the last year. That is a growth rate of more than 70% for the next 4 years and justified the last words I heard from Lisa on stage:
Read MoreDespite historically impressive stock performance this summer, AMD is faced with a pair of news items that might get some investor attention. One of the partners that AMD was working with on its transition to 7nm technology has announced today that it would no longer be pursuing so-called “leading edge” silicon manufacturing. As a result, AMD must now depend on a single production source, the same used by NVIDIA, Apple, and Qualcomm.
Read MoreContinuing down the path with its semi-custom design division, AMD today announced a partnership with Chinese company Zhongshan Subor to design and build a new chip to be utilized for both a Chinese gaming PC and Chinese gaming console.
The chip itself will include a quad-core integration of the Zen processor supporting 8 threads at a clock speed of 3.0 GHz, no Turbo or XFR is included. The graphics portion is built around a Vega GPU with 24 Compute Units running at 1.3 GHz. Each CU has 64 stream processors giving the “Fenghuang” chip a total of 1536 SPs. That is the same size GPU used in the Kaby Lake-G Vega M GH part, but with a higher clock speed.
Read MoreBy nearly any measure, 2017 was a banner year for AMD. The company was able to return not only to relevancy but transformed itself into an entity with technological advantages over rivals that had previously towered over them. CEO Dr. Lisa Su has realigned the corporate warship, pushing execution in key markets and product segments where its technology can flourish, rather than hap-hazard attempts in areas in does not posses a chance of success.
At the company’s event in Taipei, Taiwan during the annual Computex technology trade show, Su and other key executives trumpeted up past and current successes before describing the future of its roadmap for consumer and enterprise products for 2018 and 2019. A combination of 2018 chip launches and advanced process technology integrations for 2019 show an AMD that appears to be smelling blood in the water.
Read MoreIn the build up to earnings season this month, AMD is eager to get out from under some of the problematic and lingering concerns that have followed it. Deftly navigating around a potentially serious security concern and trying to find ways to offset the risk involved in too much of its graphics business being associated with the volatile cryptocurrency markets, AMD continues to put itself in a position for growth.
Read MoreA recent financial downgrade from Susquehanna Financial for AMD stock has raised questions about the viability of companies that are dependent on at least some of their revenue from cryptocurrency mining on GPUs. The obvious players in the field are AMD and NVIDIA, the two largest suppliers of graphics chips that double as compute processors for specific workloads including, AI, machine learning, and cryptocurrency mining for Bitcoin-like alt-coins. The downgrade from the firm is based on information that a company called Bitmain, that I wrote about two months ago, is close to selling a new ASIC to mine today’s most popular cryptocurrency called Ethereum.
Read MoreThere is a severe shortage of graphics cards and memory in the market thanks to the continued rise in demand for the chips to handle cryptocurrency mining. This leaves a large market of do-it-yourself consumers and PC gamers without the ability to build or upgrade computers without overpaying for these components. OEM PC builders have an advantage of priced-locked component costs that is redirecting consumers previously uninterested into the market for these pre-built machines. Vendors like HP, Dell, Lenovo, and others have an opportunity to capitalize on the product shortages with increased revenue and new customers for both notebooks and desktop PCs.
Read MoreAMD announced today that it has hired two new executives to run its graphics division after the departure of Radeon Technologies Group’s previous lead. Raja Koduri left AMD in November to join Intel and launch its new Core and Visual Computing group, creating a hole in the leadership of this critical division at AMD. CEO Lisa Su filled in during Koduri’s sabbatical and subsequent exit, but the company had been searching for the right replacements since late last year.
Read More2018 started off with a bang for chip vendors like Intel and AMD, as a new and potentially industry-shifting security vulnerability at the silicon level was announced. Along with it came concerns about consumer privacy, financial security, and even potential performance impacts on computers and servers that were patched to alleviate the vulnerability.
Read MoreVerbosely called the 8th Generation Core Processor with Radeon Vega M Graphics, the new G-series of parts targets a middle ground of the notebook space that wants graphics performance for gaming but without the bulk and size usually associated with traditional gaming systems.
Read MoreJust before the closing bell on Wednesday, Intel released a statement responding to the security issues brought up in this story. While acknowledging that these new security concerns do exist, the company went out of its way to insinuate that AMD, Arm Holdings, and others were at risk. Intel also states that performance impact on patched machines “should not be significant and will be mitigated over time.”
Read MoreAfter a forty-day sabbatical from the company, AMD Radeon Technologies Group SVP and Chief Architect Raja Koduri is leaving the company. Koduri returned to AMD four years ago to lead its graphics development and was placed in charge of the Radeon Technologies Group when it was formed two years ago with a stated goal of focusing on graphics and returning AMD to a leadership position.
Read MoreToday Intel announced a new product family for its 8th Generation Core family that combines a 35-watt processor and AMD Radeon graphics chip on a single package in order to create a new class of gaming notebook solution. It hasn’t been assigned a brand yet, that will likely occur with a formal announcement at CES this January. This announcement has significant impact because it solidifies a partnership between competitors AMD and Intel for a product in a space both compete in.
Read MoreWith the launch of Ryzen Mobile, a processor meant to compete with Intel’s 7th and 8th generation Core processors in ultrathin and 2-in-1 notebooks, AMD is completing what can only be called a revolutionary year for the company. “It truly is the culmination of a spectacular year of product launches,” claims Lisa Su, AMD CEO. Every quarter of 2017 has brought with it multiple significant product launches that have shifted and molded the company’s portfolio of products and IP into something very different than the AMD of recent history.
Read MoreAs the winter buying seasons ramps up, AMD is readying a major notebook processor release that will be competitive to for the first time Intel in nearly a decade. With recent leaks of upcoming configurations coming from major system builders like HP, and performance data that indicates a strong uplift compared to previous AMD offerings, the mobile AMD chip will force both Intel and NVIDIA to make adjustments to product lines and positioning.
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