System Builders Relieved As AMD's Ruiz Steps Down

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By Joseph F. Kovar, ChannelWeb
7:23 PM EDT Thu. Jul. 17, 2008 Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) stunned the market and the channel with a 1-2 combination on its second quarter earnings call Thursday, announcing a whopping $1.19 billion loss for the quarter and the departure of CEO Hector Ruiz, who will be replaced by Dirk Meyer, president and COO of the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chip maker.

AMD under Ruiz had a tempestuous relationship with the whitebox channel, and for system builders, the change in leadership at AMD is almost a relief. Several who spoke with ChannelWeb following the news of Ruiz's departure said that the change at the top was a chance for the vendor to reassess its channel and product strategy, especially in terms of how AMD handled its larger OEMs and the ongoing integration of graphics processor and card vendor ATI, acquired by AMD in 2006.

"From my perspective, AMD now has a product guy in charge," he said. "There'll probably be less focus on chasing Intel with legal challenges. We just want a good product strategy. The whole Intel thing was getting tiring. Why not go back and focus on better products and better pricing? At the end of the day, people buy for product and pricing and availability, and not on a couple hundred dollars worth of marketing collateral."

Ruiz tended to look at the kind of numbers AMD could get from tier-one vendors, or from direct retailers like Newegg, "but not at the guys that sold the AMD brand name," Coffield said. "They screwed us. AMD is done. They've screwed the channel for so long. I gave them opportunities to come back to the true channel."

http://www.crn.com/hardware/209100845

[Steepler0t]

1. Exellent news

I am a pc tech/hobbyist/builder/gamer and die-hard AMD fan.
But AMD has been getting the snot kicked out of them by Intel, most gamers/builders now recommend Intel for fast solid inexpensive rigs (blasphemy!)
I have not built a new system for myself in almost 2 years, I can't wait to see what AMD comes back with to knock Intel for a loop. I am so there.
Just got to love when the little guy comes back with a sucker punch to the behemoth.

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2. I am in the same boat.

AMD is still, by far, the leader in 4+ processor servers. If they hadn't been 6 months late with a bug-free quad core processor, things would be much different.

They make huge margins on 4P and 8P Opterons.

The new Radeon graphics cards are AMAZING from a price/performance standpoint.

They are going to shrink their Phenom processor to 45nm late this year and add some more L3 cache.

This should help with the enthusiasts.

I built a new system in Spring of last year and I love it. And unless AMD closes its doors, I will NEVAH, EVAH go Intel.

[slackmaster]

7. I built nothing but AMD systems for many years

My latest build is an Intel Core2 Duo E6850, and I am VERY happy with it.

My previous Intel-based build (about 12 computers ago) was a 486DX4/100. Ancient history.

I do hope AMD recovers from its funk. Their architecture has a lot going for it. Most of our high-end database servers where I work are Opterons.

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3. Kick

:kick:

[spag68]

4. I realize how technophobic I am

When I read this post mostly I only understood small 2 and 3 letter words. Good for you young-ins.

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5. Hey, hey.....

It is a techinical article from an "inside baseball" source.

It had some good quotes, though.

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6. Mid-afternoon kick

I posted this way too late last night!

;-)