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Rumor: Microsoft is interested in buying AMD
- Thread starter statham
- Start date
Wowfunhappy
Member
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).
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).
AMD only receives a fraction of that 100$. A big chunk goes to manufacturers.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
I was referring to Silver Lake.
I'm not an expert on how the Stock market works, but I've read about Silver Lake being involved with deals like Dell and Skype
KojiKnight
Member
By buying AMD and then not investing in the hardware, they would be basically making their own purchase worthless. "They'd save money on x-bone!" but then what afterwards?
...Scatter...
Banned
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.
CPU and GPU divisions were always seperate IIRC, they just had multiple divisions on the GPU side that have been reorganised into one division now.
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.
Muskieratboi
Member
Never underestimate the power of the green team.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
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.
captjohnboyd
Member
That's literally what I was JUST thinking. Isn't that how it is now? I haven't been a PC gamer for a while (although I plan on building a rig for VR at some point) so I don't follow the GPU stuff nearly as much as I used to but even I, with my dearth of wisdom, know that Nividia is kind of a one man show right now
makingmusic476
Member
I thought the rumor was Samsung buying AMD.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
There were rumors about both, Microsoft makes more sense than Samsung to me. They are a lot more invested in x86 and would directly benefit more from obtaining the license than Samsung would. Assuming they would be able to get it, otherwise AMD isn't worth buying for anyone aside from maybe Intel (probably not even then, they could just hire away any engineers worth hiring and call it a day).
I'll never understand this maybe I missed the big bad thing that they did.
SenjutsuSage
Banned
No kidding it's like Microsoft ran over their dog the way some people fear or describe them. They're a large multinational primarily computer software, video gaming and computer hardware corporation. Why wouldn't they be perfect for AMD? They have the software and hardware capability as well as the large cash reserves to all of a sudden make AMD into a powerhouse.
These corporations don't care about any of us. They're in the business of making money. They don't care about console wars or promoting rival products. For years, Sony made Vaio PC's with Microsoft software and technologies, Microsoft pays licensing fees for the use of Blu-ray in Xbox One etc.
Phat Michael
Banned
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.
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.
Obviously Microsoft wants to have priority access to HBM2 and future iterations of High Bandwidth Memory since that's what AMD currently has with SK Hynix. Microsoft won't mess with Sony when it comes time for PS5 to use HBM2, But when Sony announces PS5, Microsoft will have secured supply of HBM3 with far higher bandwidth, and therefore the next gen Xbox will run circles around PS5 in 4K Ultra HD game performance and native resolutions.
It's a plot for world domination I tell you.
It's a plot for world domination I tell you.
j/k
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!
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.
brotkasten
Member
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.
Their only advantage is laptop/desktop TDP APUs which is not suitable for any ultra-low power devices and it's a fast evaporating niche too given how quick Intel and ARM are moving in this segment.
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.
Roberto Larcos
Member
Great reason to invest then.
PC makers aren't making enough money, with the lion's share going to Microsoft and Intel. Because of AMD's lack of competitiveness (especially in the processor market), Intel mark up and OEMs suck it up. Maybe Microsoft see this is the reason that OEMs are struggling to turn a profit on PCs, and see a competitive AMD as essential to the future of their bread and butter. It's hurting the viability of Windows tablets and their ability to compete on price against Android / iOS.
I don't see this is an acquisition for direct profit. I really doubt that Microsoft would step in if someone else was seriously interested. They don't care who owns AMD, just as long as their products become more competitive, the free market will sort the rest. But AMD's still flagging, and the only potential investors touted (and maybe Microsoft has an inside track here) don't really have AMD's best competitive interests at heart.
My two cents.
Prophet Steve
Member
That quote is just so shortsighted. So what, they are suddenly going to produce GPUs without any cost? Taking into account manufacturing costs and the initial investment I'd have huge doubts they are going to earn their money back that way. The margins on console GPUs are likely not great.
I also doubt this is going to be to screw Sony. Delivering parts to competitors is something that happens all the time.
If they do this, it is not a decision only for the console market.
Sony and Nintendo going with Intel and Nvidia chips would jack the prices up so much that they would not be very competitive with Microsoft in the console space. If you remember in earlier console generations they were heated arguments with console manufacturers accusing Nvidia of being too expensive and not willing to negotiate on price. Intel was the same, which is why Microsoft made huge losses on the Xbox. And PS3 had an overpriced and un-competitive GPU.
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.
I'm thinking the law would. Anti competitive practices and all that. It ain't as simple as that.
dr_rus
Member
Seems to be so. Thus MS buying AMD is actually MS buying the graphics division of AMD and some part of CPU division which is working on K12 (ARM CPU). Resulting entity will look a lot like NVIDIA in tech - a proprietary GPU tech and a custom made ARM CPU core which can be used for building SoCs of different power.
The end result of such buy out would be rather catastrophic if you ask me as it will further cement pretty much every monopoly which we already have with the only exception of desktop GPUs -- which is arguably the most competitive PC market segment even today.
Intel will have a 100% monopoly on x86 CPUs. NV will have a 100% monopoly on gaming console SoCs which are not from MS. All non-desktop market will be 100% in ARM's pocket. And MS will be 100% AMD tech which to me looks like a bad idea considering the tech in question.
I would much rather prefer AMD to be bought by Samsung or Qualcomm than MS.
If it's true then it's not about screwing Sony and Nintendo at all as AMD does not produce any parts for their consoles. A lot of people doesn't know how this industry works. Backing out of a licensing deal with SCE/Nintendo would be simply put impossible no matter who will buy AMD's assets.
I think there have been rumors for basically everyone buying AMD.
Happens when the stock price only knows one way.
But nobody wants to bind themselves to the x86 market.
The question is if you are allowed to take over AMD without continuing to make x86 cpus.
Insane Metal
Gold Member
Wow. If true, this could be really good for AMD.
TheSlySoul
Member
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.
I think you overestimate how important the console business is in the (potential) acquisition.
BuffetChamp
Banned
Make it happen Microsoft. 
Steverulez
Member
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
I don't think you guys understand how business works. Its not only how much a company cost. But you have to look at, how much is the operating cost, revenue and profit it brings.
In case of AMD, running the company everyday is costing them money lol profit margin is in negative. This is very important thing they look at to evaluate the business.
they paid billion for Minecraft. Sure it seems high when you hear it and compare it to giant company like AMD. But Minecraft just prints money for them since the day they bought it. Operating cost must be crazy low, and its all profit. Its on every device.
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.
Think of how Samsung make Apples SoC but they're a direct competitor in the phone space.
Whereas next-gen, MS would have a huge advantage from the get go by only having to worry about manufacturing cost rather than the price AMD would sell to them for. This means they can put a lot more power in a new console for the same money.
I'm seeing a lot of people saying that MS would not gain from this. Are people forgetting they're one of the leading cloud computing companies while producing hardware?
Exactly my point. If a competition regulator took a look at the acquisition and saw the PS4/NX as a conflict, it would passed off as nothing more than a bulletpoint compared to the broader business objectives of cloud, PC and mobile hardware.
It's utter madness to assume they would do this to give Sony a hard time as their primary objective (especially considering the Minecraft revenue), and the regulator would think the same.
And the PS4 and Wii U. All the consoles run on AMD hardware
ClosingADoor
Member
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.
AMD has a lot of costs and low profit margins. It is also a totally different business then Microsoft is used to. They already develop games, so Minecraft fits in. Not so much with developing chips and graphics cards.
The portion of profits from consoles is very low. Those margins are so tiny AMD barely makes a profit from it now.