AMD VP SEES MORE OPTERON GROWTH AND A DELL WIN

Read the whole interview here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/10/amd_henri_interview/

El Reg: Intel has promised customers new server and desktop chips in the second half of this year that will put some serious pressure on you. How quickly do you expect the new Intel gear to come to market?

HR: Their story is not coherent.

On the one hand, they are making a lot of noise about technology they are not shipping. And, on the other hand, they are saying that that technology will be 20 per cent of shipments by the end of the year. That's not exactly a stellar ramp.

What remains to be seen is if they will put a few parts out there to slow down the market, or do they have a much better manufacturing plan, and they want to attack by surprise? Or is the reality that it's a lot of vaporware, and they don't have that many parts?

I don't know. I don't think anybody knows expect for Intel.

I certainly am not betting on them failing. That is not a good strategy. I respect the competition and assume they will deliver on their promise.

El Reg: Our major issue with AMD at this point is your reluctance to talk about what is coming down the road. You were more than happy to talk about 64-bit extensions early and dual-core parts early. Why aren't you being more specific about what you have to do to counter Intel's improvements?
HR: First off, because we don't feel as much as the outside world does a need to counter. Right now it is more asking Intel what they are going to do to counter AMD than the opposite.

We are in front and gaining share.

El Reg: Why admit then that they will put more pressure on you and talk about how Intel will catch up in some areas. Why not talk about what you have cooking instead?
HR: I am not in favor of hyping the future too much. We have a lot of good parts to sell today.

I think Intel hurt themselves in the first quarter pretty badly. What they essentially said to any faithful Intel customer is, "wait". If you are a smart Intel customer, why in the world would you buy anything in Q1, Q2 and even Q3. Why? You better wait.

They told the entire world that their current products are crap, and the next thing is much better.

don't have any intention to go tell my customers that the stuff we have now is not as good as what we'll have tomorrow.

To your point though, I think we have a been a little quiet, and our intention is to make a lot of noise at our June analyst conference.

Action man keyboards his ass.