AMD set to miss Q1 targets

EVEN THOUGH INTEL is still making a lot more old NetBurst CPUs than new Core marchitecture ones, the Force is strong with the younger ones, as a George Lucas fantasy figure might say.

Currently, WoodCrest and Clovertown are making a killing in the server space, mounting unbearable pressure on AMD to deliver its quad-core Barcelona processors. However, the saviour will not come in Q1 or before mid-Q2, in fact, so AMD's Q1 numbers have taken a bit of a pounding.

AMD was committed to delivering between 1.1 and 1.2 billion dollars in CPU revenue, but the number we are hearing now is hovering between $800 and $900 million, $300-400 million off the mark.

We do not know what the situation on March 31st will be in other business divisions like GPU, chipset, handheld or console IP space, but brace for impact.

Our sources in and around AMD are playing it cool, stating that the company has enough cash in the bank to go through a rough Q1 and Q2 and deliver beyond expectations in Q3 and Q4. It seems that the whole 65nm offensive (Barcelona-Altair-Agena-RV610-RV630-R600 die-shrink) that AMD is preparing is going better than the company expected, or something else is going on.

Expect a rough couple of months ahead for AMD, and then six months of benchmark and market warfare between Chipzilla, Graphzilla, and Chimpzilla itself.

AMD wouldn't comment on the expected numbers, other than to state it is in its quiet period. Just having a nap, at a guess. µ