AMD and ATI join forces

[Spec-V]

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so there won't be crossfire in conroe

and sli isn't fully supported by intel

if you look way back when sli was introduced to athlon64 platforms.... intel immediately asked even begged nvidia to make it available to P 4 systems.......

There is a Crossfire config on Conroe, check the Reviews for the Falcon Northwest Mach V below:

[fd]

There is a Crossfire config on Conroe, check the Reviews for the Falcon Northwest Mach V below:




there is crossfire on core 2 BEFORE the acquisition.
we have yet to see the AFTER.

[StyM]

AMD and ATI to Create Processing Powerhouse

AMD (NYSE:AMD) and ATI (NASDAQ:ATYT) (TSX:ATY) today announced plans to join forces in a transaction valued at approximately $5.4 billion. The combination will create a processing powerhouse by bringing AMD's technology leadership in microprocessors together with ATI's strengths in graphics, chipsets and consumer electronics.

AMD's acquisition of ATI will position the new company to deliver innovations that fulfill the increasing demand for more integrated solutions in key market segments. In 2008 and beyond, AMD aims to move beyond current technological configurations to transform processing technologies, with silicon-specific platforms that integrate microprocessors and graphics processors to address the growing need for general-purpose, media-centric, data-centric and graphic-centric performance. Thus, the combined company intends to empower its customers to create their own unique products and solutions within an open-innovation ecosystem free from artificial barriers to customer success.

Under the terms of the transaction, AMD will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of ATI for a combination of $4.2 billion in cash and 57 million shares of AMD common stock, based on the number of shares of ATI common stock outstanding on July 21, 2006. AMD anticipates it will finance the cash portion of the transaction with a combination of cash and new debt. AMD has obtained a $2.5 billion term loan commitment from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. which, together with combined existing cash, cash equivalents, and short term investments balances of approximately $3.0 billion, provides full funding for the transaction. The transaction is subject to ATI shareholder approval, Canadian court supervision of a Plan of Arrangement, and other regulatory approvals including merger notification filings in the United States, Canada and other jurisdictions, as well as customary closing conditions. In the event that the transaction does not close, ATI has agreed to pay AMD a termination fee of $162.0 million under circumstances specified in the acquisition agreement. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2006.

The combined company would have achieved approximately $7.3 billion in total consolidated sales during the last four quarters with a workforce of approximately 15,000 employees. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, the company will maintain sales, design and manufacturing centers worldwide and major business centers in Silicon Valley, Austin, Texas and Markham, Ontario - all valued centers of innovation for the combined company. AMD's current executive team will be complemented by the addition of ATI President and CEO Dave Orton. Orton will serve as an executive vice president of the ATI business division, reporting to the AMD Office of the CEO, comprised of Chairman and CEO Hector Ruiz and President and Chief Operating Officer Dirk Meyer. In addition, under the terms of the acquisition agreement, two ATI directors will join AMD's board of directors upon closing of the transaction.

"This combination means accelerated growth for ATI, and broader horizons for our employees," said Dave Orton, President and CEO of ATI. "All of our product lines will benefit. Joining with AMD will enable us to innovate aggressively on the PC platform, and continue to invest significantly in our consumer business to stay in front of our markets."

it's a done deal...

[tolstoi]

heheh..can anybody rename the title of this thread =)

[obemon]

^^Done

[cHoLoCoY]

i go where AMD goes,.....

[dagget]

looking back............

Nvidia was not allowed by Intel to make a Pentium 4 chipset(the reason being Nvidia didn't wan't to pay royalties to make Pentium 4 chipsets)............ until they released SLi to the Athlon64 platform.......... they asked(begged) nvidia to make a SLi chipset for them..... because they were being crusched by benchmarks.........

right now ATi won' be getting friendly deals with Intel...........

so crossfire will eventually be exclusive to Athlon64 platform.......

[obemon]

AMD/ATi FAQ's
Link: http://www.ati.com/companyinfo/about/faq.html

Q: When will the new company be up and running?
A: We expect to close in the fourth quarter of 2006. Once the acquisition is closed, we will rapidly move to integrate the operations of the two companies.

Q: What will the combined company operate as?
A: The combined company will operate as AMD .

Q: Where will the new company be headquartered?
A: The combined company will be headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, with centers of excellence in Silicon Valley, Austin, and Markham, Ontario, as well as sales, design and manufacturing operations worldwide.

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LOL. I can't get my head around an 'AMD Radeon X1900XT' videocard name. But I'll get used to it I guess.

[tolstoi]

this is a significant merger on the side of ATI coz they will now be sharing AMD's FAB in Dresden thus transitioning from one silicon technology to another is a lot easier [say from 80nm to 65nm]...to know more about AMD's latest high-tech silicon foundries click here

[StyM]

source here

Sunnyvale (CA) - With the acquisition of ATI, AMD will have all the pieces in place to evolve from a processor manufacturer into a platform company and go head to head with Intel in more markets - especially in the business desktop and notebook segments. But AMD claims that it is approach will be different from Intel and allow third-party firms - such as Nvidia - to access its platforms.

Integration is the keyword the best describes the motivation for AMD to acquire ATI. While the company threw out processors and had to rely on third-party support to build hardware around its products- especially its Turion 64 notebook CPU - AMD will now be able to build its own "integrated" hardware ecosystem - very much like Intel.
However, AMD believes that it will not morph into another Intel: "Our approach is very different from Intel," said AMD spokesman Bubba Wolford. "You really would be comparing apples to oranges. We are very much about an open approach. That includes opening up our chipset, our platforms and our processors. If you look at 'Torrenza' you see how we allow companies to innovate around our products," he said.

Of course, building its own platform somewhat contradicts AMD's previous claim that using third-party hardware developers will offer consumers a "best of breed" product range for its products such as the mobile Turion 64 processor. Spokesman Jon Carvill told TG Daily that a new ability to offer a complete AMD solution, however, improves this scenario: "You really can do both, using 'best of breed' as wells as an integrated product. Ultimately it gives the customer more choice than before," he said.

So, what does that exactly mean for the partners of AMD? Especially Nvidia comes to mind, which today ships more than 90% of the chipsets for AMD computers and potentially could have been viewed as a better fit for AMD. In the end, AMD says, it will depend on Nvidia what the relationship will look like and AMD itself of course has little interest to change the way it is treated by Nvidia. However, AMD suddenly has become one of Nvidia's most important competitors and that may have an impact on how Nvidia will position itself in the future.

Wolford and Carvill argued that AMD and ATI were more "complementary" than an AMD-Nvidia company. "If you look at how AMD and ATI have worked together, if you look at the approach to customer centricity and the very similar philosophies overall, than you see that the strengths of ATI and AMD are a very natural fit," Carvill said.

And then, of course, there is still the question what this new company will be called, when the acquisition will close as planned in the fourth quarter of this year. Wolford said that the deal still has to pass various steps, such as stockholder approval, and that more information on the branding will become available over the next months. At least for now, "the company" will act under the name of AMD, Wolford said.

AMD suddenly has become one of Nvidia's most important competitors and that may have an impact on how Nvidia will position itself in the future