Thursday, February 23rd 2012
AMD Talked to NVIDIA Before Acquiring ATI: Report
According to a Forbes report which cites former AMD employees, AMD approached NVIDIA for a merger, before going on to acquire its rival ATI. Well before 2006, AMD's CPU designers envisaged the basic concept of an APU, where with advancements in silicon fab processors, chip-designers could add other components to a processor, such as an integrated GPU that's reasonably powerful. AMD lacked an integrated graphics chipset of its own, back then. These were some of the prime-movers of AMD's hunt for a GPU company, which was then much healthier, as it then had a promising and competitive CPU lineup.
According to the Forbes report, AMD first approached NVIDIA with the idea of a merger. Back then, AMD and NVIDIA had extremely cordial relations, as NVIDIA had a large market-share in motherboard chipsets for AMD processors. Apparantly, NVIDIA's boss Jen-Hsun Huang insisted on going on to become the CEO of the proposed AMD-NVIDIA combine, an idea that didn't fly too well with AMD's Hector Ruiz. AMD then went on to acquire NVIDIA's cash-strapped rival ATI Technology, which went to make AMD's Graphics Products division before being restructured and fully amalgamated with the rest of AMD.
The report provides a fascinating insight into the paths AMD and NVIDIA each followed, how their paths crossed at one point, and how the two went on to follow two entirely different ones. Forbes notes AMD going on to work on ever more powerful GPUs, while NVIDIA works on highly-competitive mobile processors. NVIDIA declined to comment on that story.
Source:
Forbes
According to the Forbes report, AMD first approached NVIDIA with the idea of a merger. Back then, AMD and NVIDIA had extremely cordial relations, as NVIDIA had a large market-share in motherboard chipsets for AMD processors. Apparantly, NVIDIA's boss Jen-Hsun Huang insisted on going on to become the CEO of the proposed AMD-NVIDIA combine, an idea that didn't fly too well with AMD's Hector Ruiz. AMD then went on to acquire NVIDIA's cash-strapped rival ATI Technology, which went to make AMD's Graphics Products division before being restructured and fully amalgamated with the rest of AMD.
The report provides a fascinating insight into the paths AMD and NVIDIA each followed, how their paths crossed at one point, and how the two went on to follow two entirely different ones. Forbes notes AMD going on to work on ever more powerful GPUs, while NVIDIA works on highly-competitive mobile processors. NVIDIA declined to comment on that story.
58 Comments on AMD Talked to NVIDIA Before Acquiring ATI: Report
I am very glad AMD didn't get in bed with NVIDIA...
ATI and AMD make a great couple, both are failing companies that I could careless about other then to create competition for NVIDIA and Intel.
I personally wouldn't/couldn't run a GPU without CUDA and can imagine running a CPU other than Intel :rockout:
The arrogance of Jen-Hsun never ceases to amaze. :roll:
Not to mention AMD is dominating the APU market.
You sir are very misinformed.
:toast:
That's why a few years later when AMD was buckling under the weight of the competition from intel combined with the massive debt aquired with ATI, Jen-Hsun mocked AMD and said "we could buy them [AMD] now"
At the time Nvidia's market cap was close to 20 billion and AMD's was close to 6 Billion.
When the merger was proposed NV was ~ 15 billion and AMD was at its record high 40 Billion or just under it.
AMD in 2006 was a very strong company except for it's business side. Sure when the money was rolling in, they looked like they knew what they were doing, yet when the money train slowed, so did their business capabilities.
Nvidia on the other hand has been able to weather many storms and still come out on top.
You can argue innovation, product lines, etc. But Nvidia simply knows how to run a business better than AMD does. This i primarily why Jen-HSun insisted on being CEO. He knew his company in the hands of Ruiz spelled doom. So he wouldn't back down and the merger failed.
AMD tanked for quite while afterwards, Nvidia got stonger then took a few hits and leveled out just about where they were before.
Nvidia proves that the best innovators in the world combined with average buniness sense can't hold a candle to decent innovators combined with great business sense.
(980a is just 780a with DDR3 slots.)
And still I think AMD made the smarter move even if they didn't do it on purpose. And all of that benefited us, the customers more than if they would go with Nvidia.
ATI on the other hand were moderate in pushing its products out, though did a good job. They always had the ability to innovate unique technology.
ATI's CEO would have been a better choice IMO at that time taking over both AMD/ATI.
To this day, I still think it was a dumbass move. They basically forced Intel into technology they already have a leg up on at a time when AMD was (and still is) sliding. AMD should have put that $5 billion (or whatever the final cost was) towards making a better processor instead of breaking into another market.
Their CEO wanting more in this just shows that NV needs a change of leadership.
And I think AMD/nV would've been better, at least if the graphics division of nV followed the same path they have since. Imagine the AMD apu with CUDA backing it instead. It would be a lot further along already.
AMDs higher management is always shuffling around.
But because it didn't happen, it's just pure speculation.
AMD has one VERY major flaw ... they don't market their products worth a poop.
Intel : "Intel Inside" (with a four note jingle everyone is familiar with)
Nvidia : "The way it's meant to be played."
AMD/ATI : " ??? "
It's interesting to think "what if" and get an inside view of personality conflicts, but it just never would have happened.