AMD Starts Aggressive Partner Program With Volume Incentive Rebates

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AMD wants its VAR partners to sell more commercial systems.

AMD
(Image credit: AMD)

AMD has initiated a new partner program aimed to increase sales of AMD-based systems by value added resellers to business and commercial customers. The program is said to include aggressive volume incentive rebates as well as training, sales, and marketing support by AMD.

AMD's new invite-only partner program was launched on January 1 and covers AMD Ryzen-based PCs and EPYC-powered servers from OEMs like Dell, HPE, and Lenovo, reports CRN. Companies that sell more machines with AMD inside get rebates from the company on a per-CPU basis. Those who sell more systems with higher-end AMD CPUs get more money back from the chip company. In addition, sales personnel of value-added resellers (VARs) get training from the company to better communicate the advantages of AMD's Ryzen and EPYC platforms over competing Intel platforms.

VARs and solution providers can use the rebate money to offer better pricing for their customers, reinvest into the company development, train employees or hire additional personnel. In any case, the money will help AMD's partners grow, which will be positive for the processor developer. Note that this is different from what Intel was accused of doing in the past, which required exclusive agreements to use Intel processors.

AMD does not disclose how much money it will return to its value-added resellers, but solution providers asked by CRN indicate that AMD's incentive program is rather aggressive. The program was developed by Terry Richardson, an HPE veteran who joined AMD last year as the company's North American channel chief.

"When we presented the program and the 2022 proposed rebates for client and server, the feedback from the members of the advisory board was those are very, very competitive and very attractive," said Richardson in an interview with CRN. "If they choose to really understand and take the time to not only understand the AMD differentiation but start to aggressively position it, then there’s a reward."

Traditionally, AMD has been particularly strong with CPUs aimed at do-it-yourself (DIY) enthusiasts and client PCs, which is why Ryzen processors are among best CPUs for gaming. But since today AMD is selling every piece of silicon it can produce, it makes sense for the company to focus on selling business and commercial systems that use premium CPUs and therefore maximize AMD's earnings and profitability.

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Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hotaru251
    should of started this with zen 3 when they were better in 90% of everything.

    intel's taken gaming back with 12th gen (with asterisk ofc) and zen 4 should take it back based on how prior improvements have been sicne zen1.

    thoguh pretty sure server side epyc is still king?
    Reply
  • alceryes
    I bet this is because of that long drawn-out EU lawsuit that Intel won. Intel heavily incentivized big name retailers if over 90% of their stock sold was Intel-based.
    AMD basically said, "Fine. If it's okay to do this. THEN LET'S DO THIS!!!"
    Reply
  • hotaru.hino
    There's also a more practical reason from a manufacturing standpoint: economics of scale. Incentivize companies to buy in bulk so the cost per unit goes down.
    Reply
  • jkflipflop98
    Funny. When Intel does the same thing it's "FINE THEM INTO OBLIVION FOR THIS HORRID TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE!!"
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    alceryes said:
    Intel heavily incentivized big name retailers if over 90% of their stock sold was Intel-based.
    If there where any proof of that then intel wouldn't have won the case.
    jkflipflop98 said:
    Funny. When Intel does the same thing it's "FINE THEM INTO OBLIVION FOR THIS HORRID TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE!!"
    Because a company that already sells ~80% of the market volume, doing rebates can really harm the sells of a smaller company, a company that sells ~20% of market volume can't really make any more of a difference, it's not like they can magically produce more units, they just make less money while still selling the same amount.
    Reply
  • TJ Hooker
    TerryLaze said:
    If there where any proof of that then intel wouldn't have won the case.
    They only won the EU case. They've faced similar antitrust cases in the US, Japan, and South Korea, all of which they lost or settled.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    TJ Hooker said:
    They only won the EU case. They've faced similar antitrust cases in the US, Japan, and South Korea, all of which they lost or settled.
    The one in the US was about the exact same thing plus AMD selling stuff to glofo that they had no right to sell, what was the japan and south korea ones about, never heard about those, japan and korea where a small part of this law suit as in there where raids on intel offices in those countries but it was for this case.
    Reply