AMD to Custom-design CPUs for the Chinese Government

[ensabrenoir]

Well, lets hope they get quite a big amount of bucks for this not only up front but from the royalties. Its something!

....I hope the same thing every time they partner/colab/win a new contract.......then those quarterly results reports come out..........

 

[suraswami]

Right now amd would be the more equal since they are buying them.

I would be curious since they have a say in it if China will copy Intel chips and make amd produce them. That is the Chinese thing to do.

China will buy AMD!!

AMD - Made in China

wait, Name changed to CMD!!

 

[Ivaroeines]

Guess my days buying AMD parts are over. I try to avoid buying products made in China(not an easy task) because of the dictatorship, human rights situation and the expansionist policies of China. When a company decide to operate in China it does so with the intent that the communist government are kept strong and in power, but this type of thing is more like a passive support for the Chinese government. What AMD is now doing is to take active part in the Chinese governments oppression of the Chinese people, guess AMD have gotten afraid that the political opposition in China have got a bit too strong and figured out that Xi Jinping could do with a little help and came to the rescue. Anyway, shame on you AMD!

 

[cdawall]

Amd is making its parts in China they are making parts for China...

 

[darkangel0504]

 

[Frick]

Guess my days buying AMD parts are over. I try to avoid buying products made in China(not an easy task) because of the dictatorship, human rights situation and the expansionist policies of China. When a company decide to operate in China it does so with the intent that the communist government are kept strong and in power, but this type of thing is more like a passive support for the Chinese government. What AMD is now doing is to take active part in the Chinese governments oppression of the Chinese people, guess AMD have gotten afraid that the political opposition in China have got a bit too strong and figured out that Xi Jinping could do with a little help and came to the rescue. Anyway, shame on you AMD!

The stance is commandable, but you'll just turn yourself into a hypocrite in the end.

 

[95Viper]

Better Dead than RED

I like the wit of your polysemous statement. Good one.

 

[GC_PaNzerFIN]

Wow talk about volatile stock! +50% in a day after announcing yet another loss and only 300 million (two to three quarters loss?) potential deal.

 

[Tartaros]

Guess my days buying AMD parts are over. I try to avoid buying products made in China(not an easy task) because of the dictatorship, human rights situation and the expansionist policies of China. When a company decide to operate in China it does so with the intent that the communist government are kept strong and in power, but this type of thing is more like a passive support for the Chinese government. What AMD is now doing is to take active part in the Chinese governments oppression of the Chinese people, guess AMD have gotten afraid that the political opposition in China have got a bit too strong and figured out that Xi Jinping could do with a little help and came to the rescue. Anyway, shame on you AMD!

I have bad news for you, every goverment do bad things and like to expose others while trying to cover their own shit. The only way out for you I can think is being a hermit.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Good for them. China is big, if China will depend on AMD for the CPU's, that could be a big business opportunity for them. I just hope they'll cash it in properly. I just fear this is a one time deal and then China will just copy the design. I mean, we all know how China goes these days...

I believe you, Sir, hit the nail on the head. This is a one-time licensing fee, after which China will reverse-engineer, copy and make just enough changes to announce their own CPU.

It is. It rules under that auspice. It is also has a protectionism favouring capitalist economy.

Don't confuse capitalism with democracy. And on that front democracy is also not to be confused with a free egalitarian society.

Well said! It pleases me to find others who have political backgrounds and understand these nuances.

 

[GhostRyder]

You know whats funny, I bought some awhile back as a joke because it was so cheap and now its more than double what I paid. Kinda regretting not buying more and just selling now since it will probably drop back down after awhile.

 

[Dbiggs9]

I picked up shares back a jan.

 

[Prima.Vera]

I thought that only Intel, AMD and IMB have license to produce x86 CPUs. Even if the Chinese are copying the design, they cannot release their own x86 CPU without a license. Wake up people.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I thought that only Intel, AMD and IMB have license to produce x86 CPUs. Even if the Chinese are copying the design, they cannot release their own x86 CPU without a license. Wake up people.

You're under the impression China plays by any rules in this world whatsoever. They already own half the world economically, and no country has enough clout, either diplomatically, economically, or militarily to cow them into playing by said rules (actually only the last two, since diplomatic clout derives from the strength of economic and/or military power).

When PRC plays by the rules, it is only because it is advantageous to them for the moment.

 

[Fluffmeister]

You're under the impression China plays by any rules in this world whatsoever. They already own half the world economically, and no country has enough clout, either diplomatically, economically, or militarily to cow them into playing by said rules (actually only the last two, since diplomatic clout derives from the strength of economic and/or military power).

When PRC plays by the rules, it is only because it is advantageous to them for the moment.

You said it, not to mention the slaughter of the natural world for "medicine" and an appalling human rights record. But hey ho, at least AMD's stock went up 50%.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I hope this doesn't mean we see Chinese knock-off versions of AMD processors in 10 years. AMD would be wise to deny China any information about the Zen architecture.


The only reason why China would even approach AMD is because x86 isn't something easily reverse engineered. If they could have, they would have.

 

[rtwjunkie]

The only reason why China would even approach AMD is because x86 isn't something easily reverse engineered. If they could have, they would have.

Let's hope your right....but they are the wizards of reverse-engineering. They may also have a stealth fighter (yeah, the one shot down in Serbia) soon. A CPU will be child's play.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

They're miles behind the genuine products in most categories. Sure, they can make a car that looks like a Mercedes-Benz but when you get in one and mash the pedal, it's like a 1960 VW Beetle; this is why companies like GM have a large and growing presence in China. Even the Chinese don't like the knockoffs if they can afford the genuine product. XD

 

[Prima.Vera]

You're under the impression China plays by any rules in this world whatsoever. They already own half the world economically, and no country has enough clout, either diplomatically, economically, or militarily to cow them into playing by said rules (actually only the last two, since diplomatic clout derives from the strength of economic and/or military power).

When PRC plays by the rules, it is only because it is advantageous to them for the moment.

If they make a x86 copy they can only sell it in Mainland China or NK, not even on HongKong or Taiwan. Not to mention EU, Americas, Australia, East Asian countries, where if they try to pull this stunt, the company selling will be instantly sued and be forbidden to sell.

 

[HumanSmoke]

Let's hope your right....but they are the wizards of reverse-engineering. They may also have a stealth fighter (yeah, the one shot down in Serbia) soon. A CPU will be child's play.

I doubt they would need to reverse-engineer. AMD have probably opened the front gates. They are in desperate need of revenue and the Chinese recognize this. All the PRC has to do is dangle the carrot and AMD are either faced with giving up the keys to the kingdom, or China goes shopping with a competitor - they aren't starved for cash.
Best case scenario is the PRC play it straight. Worst case, the PRC use the IP as a wedge to force the door all the way open. It wouldn't be unheard of for product to go out the back door in China or find its way into the hands of "third parties". I'm sure the Chinese would make all the right noises about curbing the practices, but good luck prosecuting a patent/IP infringement case against the Chinese in China.

If they make a x86 copy they can only sell it in Mainland China

You might have noticed that the PRC market isn't exactly small. $300m is both small change and probably represents a great return on investment even if it caters solely to the Chinese market - and good luck trying to prosecute the black and grey markets.

 

[R-T-B]

Let's hope your right....but they are the wizards of reverse-engineering. They may also have a stealth fighter (yeah, the one shot down in Serbia) soon. A CPU will be child's play.

They already attempted to auto-translate x86 to MIPS to run on their loongson processor line of MIPS quad cores. It failed pretty miserably.

I actually owned a fulong mini-pc at one point, one of the first of the home-grown loongson MIPS deriviates. It ran at 800Mhz, had an excessive amount of errata, and had trouble running something even as flexible as gentoo for some time.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I suspect China approached Intel first and Intel slammed the door in their face. I think they didn't go with VIA because VIA can't satisfy their performance requirements. AMD is, therefore, the only option. If China decides to acquire an x86 license, it might buy VIA before it buys AMD but it would only do it after VIA extends their x86 license (assuming they can) which expires next year.

I wonder what China is doing that requires x86.

 

[R-T-B]

I think they didn't go with VIA because VIA can't satisfy their performance requirements.

More likely because they let their x86 license lapse.

EDIT: Nevermind, that was Transmeta. I got confused.

 

[Fourstaff]

If they make a x86 copy they can only sell it in Mainland China or NK, not even on HongKong or Taiwan. Not to mention EU, Americas, Australia, East Asian countries, where if they try to pull this stunt, the company selling will be instantly sued and be forbidden to sell.

IIRC AMD's first x86 chip was reverse engineered from Intel's design. Based on PRC's history, we have no doubt that they will steal and strongarm some company (TSMC,Samsung or one of their homegrown foundries?) to produce copies.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Intel refused to license x86 so reverse engineering was the only option. Then came IBM which, in order to use Intel CPUs, they demanded Intel license it out (especially to AMD) because they wouldn't work with a monopoly.

Reverse engineering a chip with 100,000 transistors is easy compared to the processors today with transistor counts in the billions.