Processors Toolkit

AMD, and why the $100 PC is inevitable

John G. Spooner CNET News.com

Published: 28 Apr 2005 12:40 BST

It's been just more than two years since CEO Hector Ruiz unveiled AMD's new Opteron server microprocessor. To the surprise of some, the company was able to sign up IBM right away to use the new chip.

Winning the race to market with a 64-bit processor was not just a vanity play to impress the computer chip cognoscenti. By hitting the streets first with a 64-bit capable x86 processor, AMD one-upped rival Intel.

It also worked to convince other systems vendors to follow IBM and lend their support to the Opteron.

Indeed, to the surprise of critics, who could recite a litany of company missteps over the years, this was not a one-off event. As it geared up for stiffer competition with rival Intel, AMD lined up the likes of HP, Sun and many systems vendors to use Opteron in their higher-end systems.

But to retain the momentum, AMD needs to stay ahead on cutting-edge chip design. Ruiz is pushing hard to promote the use of the dual-core Opteron and is powering forward with a plan to diversify into new market segments.

ZDNet UK sister site CNET News.com spoke with Ruiz about technology trends and what he envisions for AMD chips in consumer electronics. We also found out that Ruiz believes the era of the $100 laptop PC may be on the horizon.

Q: When you look back over the last two years, since Opteron's introduction, what's your assessment?
A :We had a lot of expectations and dreams and hopes and goals... and all that. Considering... that there was a lot of trepidation [by] customers to even just show up — obviously the fear of Godzilla was very strong — when I think what we've done in the last two years, I'm really pleased with the progress.

It's pretty clear the enthusiasm of the OEM community of what this technology is doing for them is pretty high. And also our expectations of being able to penetrate an almost impenetrable segment of the market back in those days — I'm real happy with where we are.

What was the company's original goal?
Our hope was that by the end of 2004 we'd be at 10 percent of the market on the server side. We were just slightly short of that, according to IDC. But in the grand scheme of things, we feel pretty good.

Looking ahead, what are AMD's other goals?
When we set out two years ago... the decision we made was to sort of flip the company upside down in terms of priorities. We felt that the server/enterprise segment was incredibly important for us. It's a very lucrative segment of the market for us to participate in... and it's aimed right at the belly of the giant. We felt that we needed to demonstrate to the outside — particularly to the enterprise — that we were very capable of doing that, which was the hardest thing to do.