ARM近段時(shí)間來(lái)一直在積極游說(shuō)英特爾的長(zhǎng)期對(duì)手AMD，促使其放棄x86架構(gòu)，成為其授權(quán)客戶。
這對(duì)于AMD來(lái)說(shuō)毫無(wú)意義，至少有一名分析師持這種看法。Raymond James & Associates Inc.的分析師Hans Mosesmann在一份報(bào)告中寫道：“AMD堅(jiān)持x86，目前就是這樣?！?
“毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，除非AMD換新的CEO，否則他們是不會(huì)考慮采取ARM處理器內(nèi)核策略的，因?yàn)檫@些都是次要的考量，”他說(shuō)，“我們的淺見是，AMD進(jìn)入ARM市場(chǎng)不會(huì)給其帶來(lái)附加價(jià)值?！?
今年稍早的時(shí)候，AMD總裁兼首席執(zhí)行官Dirk Meyer在他上任兩年后辭職。其職位由AMD首席財(cái)務(wù)官兼高級(jí)副總裁Thomas Seifert暫代。當(dāng)時(shí)有報(bào)導(dǎo)暗示，他是被迫辭職，因?yàn)槎聲?huì)對(duì)AMD缺乏主打平板電腦和移動(dòng)市場(chǎng)的芯片感到不滿。（詳見文章：
評(píng)論：為什么ARM與AMD合作有意義？）
Mosesmann在報(bào)告中表示，他在機(jī)緣巧合下曾經(jīng)“偶遇”AMD高級(jí)副總裁兼首席營(yíng)銷官Nigel Dessau并問(wèn)到了一些東西。他說(shuō)：“Dessau改變了AMD以往缺乏平板方案的策略，但稱AMD暫時(shí)還只是把它當(dāng)作超低功耗市場(chǎng)的一部分。因?yàn)榭紤]到平板電腦現(xiàn)在仍然不成氣候，AMD打算在其Fusion系列低功耗產(chǎn)品常態(tài)縮減計(jì)劃中，追求更大量的平板設(shè)備市場(chǎng)?！?
AMD可能在另一個(gè)方面顛覆市場(chǎng)?！敖衲晟酝?，Bulldozer 即將推出，對(duì)AMD來(lái)說(shuō)可能誘惑更大的是服務(wù)器云/數(shù)據(jù)中心領(lǐng)域，”Mosesmann表示，“我們還不確定Bulldozer是否能顯著改變企業(yè)應(yīng)用領(lǐng)域的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)態(tài)勢(shì)，但值得慶賀的是Opteron品牌終于后繼有人，而且可能在大型數(shù)據(jù)中心應(yīng)用中有出色表現(xiàn)。在這類應(yīng)用中，“性能/功率/成本”的考慮，可能比以往單純的“性能”或“性能/功率”的考慮更優(yōu)秀?！?
2010年，AMD首次公開介紹Bulldozer：一款從主流筆記本到高端服務(wù)器的所有產(chǎn)品通吃的核心，將在2011年底之前上市。該產(chǎn)品上市拖了較長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，在一定程度上因?yàn)樗荊lobalFoundries的32納米工藝生產(chǎn)的第二款芯片。
GlobalFoundries生產(chǎn)的第一款主要32納米處理器是AMD以前宣布的Llano，它是AMD的Fusion系列芯片中的第一款產(chǎn)品。它也是AMD第一款基于高k和金屬柵(high-k /metal gates)的處理器。Fusion系列把x86與圖形內(nèi)核集成到了一起。
“Llano ，或著叫APU(CPU和圖形內(nèi)核集成在一個(gè)芯片上)在6月(可能是在臺(tái)北國(guó)際電腦展Computex期間) 發(fā)布的時(shí)候，期望AMD能在消費(fèi)PC領(lǐng)域得到大量訂單，”該分析師表示，“Llano本身未必是AMD能否在商業(yè)PC和或/服務(wù)器市場(chǎng)中取得成功的關(guān)鍵，但它是一種急需的解決方案，可以填補(bǔ)AMD產(chǎn)品組合中的一個(gè)空白?！?
Llano適合哪里？“Llano的定位，將大致是在英特爾基于Sandy Bridge的酷睿i3所處的領(lǐng)域，也許是酷睿i5的低端領(lǐng)域，”他說(shuō)，“Llano的定位似乎略低于或等于我們先前的預(yù)期。但是，考慮到低端Brazos Fusion APU(面向上網(wǎng)本那樣的價(jià)格點(diǎn))所得到的成功，我們猜測(cè)市場(chǎng)的接受情況會(huì)非常良好。談到英特爾強(qiáng)調(diào)的Sandy Bridge圖形性能，AMD笑而不語(yǔ)，因?yàn)長(zhǎng)lano在傳統(tǒng)圖形指標(biāo)方面(classical graphics metrics)應(yīng)該能夠輕松擊敗Sandy Bridge?！?
本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
參考英文原文：Analyst: AMD-ARM deal makes no sense, by Mark LaPedus
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Analyst: AMD-ARM deal makes no sense
Mark LaPedus
SAN JOSE, Calif. - ARM Holdings plc is trying to persuade Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the long-time rival to global chip leader Intel Corp., to license ARM processors and use them instead of the x86 architecture.
This makes little or no sense for AMD-at least according to one analyst. ''AMD is committed to x86; for now,'' said Hans Mosesmann, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates Inc., in a report.
''Not surprisingly until AMD hires a new CEO the big strategic decisions such as pursuing or not an ARM processor core strategy will be on the backburner,'' he said. ''Our two cents: we do not see an AMD value-add in the ARM market.''
Earlier this year, Dirk Meyer, president and CEO of AMD, resigned from the company after two years as its top executive. Thomas Seifert, AMD's chief financial officer and senior vice president, was appointed interim CEO of AMD.
In the report, Mosesmann said he recently had a chance to ''catch up'' with AMD senior vice president and chief marketing officer Nigel Dessau. ''Dessau deflected AMD’s lack of tablet strategy other than to say that the company views it simply as an ultra low power part of the market and as such, given tablets are such a small market today, AMD intends to intersect higher tablet volumes as part of the normal scale down of its Fusion portfolio,'' he said.
AMD could shake up the market on another front. ''A potentially more interesting catalyst for AMD later this year is in the server cloud/datacenter arena with the upcoming Bulldozer core,'' Mosesmann said. ''We doubt Bulldozer will disrupt much the competitive dynamic in enterprise but it is a long awaited update for the Opteron brand and may play very nicely in large datacenter applications where performance/watt/dollar may trump performance or performance/watt.''
Last year, AMD made its first public presentations on Bulldozer. Bulldozer, which targets everything from mainstream notebooks to high-end servers, will come toward the end of 2011. The longer time to market is due in part to the fact the chip is the second in line to be made in GlobalFoundries' 32-nm process.
The fab's first major 32-nm processor is AMD's previously-announced Llano, the first member of AMD's Fusion family which merges x86 and graphics cores. It is also AMD's first processor, based on high-k and metal gates.
''Look for AMD’s consumer PC campaign to get an important volume kick with the launch of the Llano processor, or APU (CPU and graphics in one chip), in June (likely at the Computex show in Taiwan),'' according to the analyst. ''Llano on its own doesn’t solve or relate necessarily to success in commercial PCs and or/the server markets; however, it’s a much needed solution that has been a hole in AMD’s product portfolio.''
Where does Llano fit? ''Llano will be positioned roughly in the segment where the Intel Sandy Bridge-based Core i3 resides and perhaps the lower end of the Core i5,'' he said. ''Llano seems positioned at or slightly below where we had expected; however, given the success of the lower-end Brazos Fusion APU (targeting netbook level price points), we suspect market adoption will be quite reasonable. AMD is delighted in Intel emphasis of Sandy Bridge’s graphics performance as Llano should easily trump it in classical graphics metrics.''
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