Aaron’s rumor of the weekend has become solid fact. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel’s major competitor in the x86 processor market, has bought ATI Technologies, one of the two leading videocard makers, for $5.4 billion. Macworld has more:
If approved, the deal will add significantly to AMD’s product line, bringing in a lineup of cutting-edge graphics chips and chipsets that include integrated graphics capabilities. Chipsets are the component on a PC motherboard that link a processor with main memory and other components, such as a hard disk.What does this mean for Mac users? Well, Aaron speculated that ATI might drop out of providing video solutions for the Mac; I don’t see this as likely—certainly not in the short term. Apple has used cards from both ATI and its main rival, nVidia, in the past and though the Mac’s marketshare is dwarfed by PCs, it’s still money in the bank for ATI.
Let’s flip it the other way around: with AMD as Intel’s major competitor, is there a chance that an integrated AMD/ATI chipset could eventually find its way into a Macintosh? After the PowerPC to Intel switch, my mantra is best exemplified by the James Bond movie above.
The only way AMD can hope to get into some of these systems is if they can produce a chip better than the core duo with intigrated graphics.
It could be a very strong possibility for the low end, but for the high end the Core 2 duo is going to be the chip to beat, and AMD still cant even beat the first version.
Unfortunatly for AMD they had the lead then let it slip through their fingers opting instead to sue Intel rather than admit it bungled the market.