AMD Unveils Notebook PC Chips
06/04/08 - 10:35 AM EDT
Alexei Oreskovic
SAN FRANCISCO -- Long deemed an also-ran in the notebook PC market, Advanced Micro Devices(AMD Quote - Cramer on AMD - Stock Picks) is ready to get serious.
On Wednesday, the Sunnyvale, Calif., company unveiled a new group of chips specifically designed for notebooks, representing AMD's most concerted effort yet to get a foot in the booming market for mobile PCs. The package of chips, known as Puma, brings together AMD's microprocessor prowess with the graphics expertise that AMD obtained through its controversial acquisition of ATI, allowing AMD to offer PC makers many of the key silicon ingredients for a modern notebook. That's a significant step forward for AMD, which has previously been unable to offer PC makers the same type of all-in-one package as Intel(INTC Quote - Cramer on INTC - Stock Picks), whose Centrino bundle of WiFi connectivity, graphics and other important notebook features has helped Intel dominate the market. Shares of AMD were recently up 21 cents, or 3.1%, to $7.02. AMD's Puma is being released just as Intel's newest version of Centrino has hit some snags. Last week Intel acknowledged that certain components of Centrino 2 would ship a few weeks late on account of technical issues with the graphics processing and separate "paperwork" problems involving the WiFi radio chip. Analysts don't expect Intel's delays to result in a major advantage for AMD. The delays are only a few weeks, which isn't enough time for PC makers to change their product design plans and switch to AMD, says American Technology Research analyst Doug Freedman. "Nobody can react quickly enough," says Freedman, who says the Intel delay has not caused him to change his revenue estimates for either Intel or AMD.
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