AMD turns in $600 million loss

CHIP FIRM AMD made a net loss of $600 millon in its latest Q2 financial quarter.

It also dumped $30 mills worth of old chips it couldn't sell, in the quarter, confirming what Intel CEO Paul Otellini said two days ago about stuff swilling about in the channel.

In the same quarter this time last year AMD made a net profit of $88 million or thereabouts. It sold $1.38 billion of chips in the second quarter this year compared to $1.22 billion last year. So it sold more chips, but failed to sell them at a price which would yield a comfortable profit. Plus AMD bought graphics company ATI for a reason which the latest results fail to justify.

Sales revenues were up QonQ by 13 per cent YoY but Intel beat AMD up where it mattered. On profits.

Will heads roll at AMD after this debacle? We somehow doubt it. At least Intel isn't smug about being in pole position. In the world of chip tech, you are only as good as your last process, wafer size, and speed to market.

Has AMD got the technology and money to beat up Intel like it did several years back? Perhaps it got really, really complacent and smug three years ago and missed its famous 18 month window of opportunity. µ