AMD's share price catches up with Intel's

AFTER THE FEVERED speculation earlier this week about Dell using AMD microprocessors, the unthinkable nearly happened yesterday.

The price of a share in AMD finished on the NYSE exchange yesterday at $21.02, within hollering distance of Intel's price, which closed at $23.69.

Nearly 40 million shares changed hands on AMD stock yesterday, fuelled by analysts on Wall Street many of whom hurriedly re-adjusted their knickers and rated its shares to "buy" rather than neutral.

Intel's 52 week high was $34.60 on the 9th of January this year - its low was $19.64 on the 28th of September last.

Contrariwise, AMD's 52 week high was $21.10 - yesterday, while its 52 week low was $10.76 on the 12th of August last. But will Dell go to AMD's ball? The CEO of Dell, K. Rollins, indicated that it might well do so in an Infoworld article earlier on this week. We still have our doubts about whether or when such a thing may happen.

Sources tell me that its corporate salesforce are telling its corporate customers that Intel will have processors soon that will equal anything AMD will throw its way. This presumably refers to the Potomac Twin Castle and Cranford 4P systems slated for launch in Q1 and Q2 of next year.

It beggars belief that Intel will just sit on its butt and watch its market share slip through its fingers just because a heap of Wall Street analysts are getting over-excited. This is the normal state of mind for these people, after all.

AMD's CEO, Hector Jesus Ruiz, entertained the excitable analyst community at a web gig last night. He told the folk that AMD would be absolutely delighted to have Dell as a customer but he also warned them that there was little reason to think Rollins would fall into his arms anytime real soon right now.

As we've warned repeatedly, it's nice for Dell's Rollins to see this kind of speculation causing sweat to break out on Wall St analysts already highly fevered brows. The next time Rollins gets to talk to Uncle Craig Barrett or to Paul "Steely" Otellini, he can push for more component discounts, so playing the card Dell has played since the beginning of time as we know it, Jim. µ

See Also
Intel hopes Dell won't go AMD
AMD price spikes as Dell says um, ah maybe