Analysts estimate that Microsoft pays around $100 for every Xbox One system-on-chip to AMD. Life-to-date sales of Xbox One are around are around 12.6 million units, which means that Microsoft has already paid AMD around $1.26 billion for Xbox One chips. The acquisition of AMD could save it around a billion per year on Xbox One chips alone.
AMD only receives a fraction of that 100$. A big chunk goes to manufacturers.Poll needs a "none of the above" option.
Of COURSE this isn't just about screwing over Sony and Nintendo, however:
...so I'm sure that this is largely about video games.
I mean, I doubt that Microsoft is intending to compete with Intel on desktop processors any time soon (nor would buying AMD really help them do so).
Isnt a rumor, its a suggestion lol.
What firm?
I mean, I doubt that Microsoft is intending to compete with Intel on desktop processors any time soon (nor would buying AMD really help them do so).
Wasn't it recently announced somewhere that ATI is organizing to separate the CPU and GPU/APU divisions. If this is true, I could see AMD split and two players buying in. MS grabs the GPU/APU side while a company like Samsung snatched up the CPU side. This is all conjecture of course.
This will not be good for the PC GPU market, as of now we have two similar companies in size that can trade blows and compete with eachother, but if Microsoft (a huge company) get AMD then Nvidia will not even be able to compete or keep up with AMD infinite resources, it'll be a one sided show with Microsoft against a tiny company like Nvidia and we'll end with one company only (Microsoft/AMD) in the desktop GPU market.
This will not be good for the PC GPU market, as of now we have two similar companies in size that can trade blows and compete with eachother, but if Microsoft (a huge company) get AMD then Nvidia will not even be able to compete or keep up with AMD infinite resources, it'll be a one sided show with Microsoft against a tiny company like Nvidia and we'll end with one company only (Microsoft/AMD) in the desktop GPU market.
That's exactly how it is now. IIRC AMD's combined R&D budget is like half Nvidia's, let alone a tiny insignificant fraction of Intel's. They aren't similarly sized, Nvidia is bigger and has a lot more money to put behind their products. And AMD's situation isn't getting any better.
One could hope that Intel might step into the discrete GPU market and compete with Nvidia if AMD were to fall out, but I really doubt that would happen.
I thought the rumor was Samsung buying AMD.
Oh God, no, please don't let it be true. I'm all for saving AMD and pumping money into it, but Microsoft? Ugh, no.
I'll never understand this maybe I missed the big bad thing that they did.
I'll never understand this maybe I missed the big bad thing that they did.
I find it funny that the acquisition rumour caused him to pray to God to stop it from happening. That's when you know you take things a little too seriously.I'll never understand this maybe I missed the big bad thing that they did.
cant see it being allowed to happen.
Why? AMD is not the market leader by a long shot and is struggling against the Intel and NVIDIA behemoths. If anything, this is something people within both companies would prefer. Finally AMD gets the financial capital to compete with Intel and NVIDIA, Microsoft can utilize AMD gpu/cpu/apu in its hardware, control the future of DX12 and it's mobile/tablet division without paying astronomical licensing fees.
Yeah but Microsoft would have a monopoly on the console market. As AMD provides the chipsets for the entire market.
They should buy ARM and PowerVR instead. Then maybe with the increased investment we'll see PowerVR get back into the desktop market!
Yeah but Microsoft would have a monopoly on the console market. As AMD provides the chipsets for the entire market.
They should buy ARM and PowerVR instead. Then maybe with the increased investment we'll see PowerVR get back into the desktop market!
If there are talks happening it probably has more to do with development of Surface, Surface Hub, Lumia, HoloLens, and Azure than it does building the next Xbox.
I stopped following AMD a while ago. Do they even have any chips that are suitable for the products you mentioned? Outside of Lumia and Xbox, everything you mentioned has an Intel chip and I doubt it's for partnership reasons.
I stopped following AMD a while ago. Do they even have any chips that are suitable for the products you mentioned? Outside of Lumia and Xbox, everything you mentioned has an Intel chip and I doubt it's for partnership reasons.
This doesn't sound like the direction that Nadella would take the company in. Microsoft just wrote off the Nokia purchase, and they've been expanding into the software ecosystems of other platform holders (iOS and Android and OS X) rather than trying to only compete with them. I don't really see how an AMD purchase meshes into his plans.
Poll needs a "none of the above" option.
Of COURSE this isn't just about screwing over Sony and Nintendo, however:
...so I'm sure that this is largely about video games.
I mean, I doubt that Microsoft is intending to compete with Intel on desktop processors any time soon (nor would buying AMD really help them do so).
They could always go to the other companies. MS owning AMD won't make it impossible to get into the game just more expensive.
If MS bought AMD their intent would be to increase market share, not diminish it even more.
I'm thinking the law would. Anti competitive practices and all that. It ain't as simple as that.Who's to say that if Microsoft bought AMD that they wouldn't increase prices for any future console chips to Sony and Nintendo?
Wouldn't amd forfeit their x86 license or something like that if this were to happen?
Poll needs a "none of the above" option.
Of COURSE this isn't just about screwing over Sony and Nintendo, however:
I thought the rumor was Samsung buying AMD.
Yeah but Microsoft would have a monopoly on the console market. As AMD provides the chipsets for the entire market.
They should buy ARM and PowerVR instead. Then maybe with the increased investment we'll see PowerVR get back into the desktop market!
I think you overestimate how important the console business is in the (potential) acquisition.
If AMD is only worth $2 billion, then MS could afford it. They paid that much for just Minecraft. Plus they would get a portion of Nintendo profits from NX.
They have to uphold any contractual agreement between any of those companies. They can't just change everything because of an acquisition. Nothing would change in that area.Who's to say that if Microsoft bought AMD that they wouldn't increase prices for any future console chips to Sony and Nintendo? Remember Sony and Nintendo are in direct competition with Microsoft for the consumer space. And Microsoft aren't exactly saints, they have been known to do things which are anti competitive in order to crush competition.
It certainly has benefits to the Xbox division which might be a plus point on a positive and negative list but this acquisition if it happened would be more about their cloud servers and Hololens I suspect, the latter of which they need to squeeze as many dollars out of that price point as possible
And the PS4 and Wii U. All the consoles run on AMD hardwareIf AMD is only worth $2 billion, then MS could afford it. They paid that much for just Minecraft. Plus they would get a portion of Nintendo profits from NX.
This depends. Minecraft after the purchase is mostly profit. Running that game doesn't cost that much and it is still selling well with lots of future possibilities.If AMD is only worth $2 billion, then MS could afford it. They paid that much for just Minecraft. Plus they would get a portion of Nintendo profits from NX.