Rumors are circulating again: Intel may buy AMD

It’s probably hard to call a more stubborn fight,than between Intel and AMD. And now, when the rumors about the takeover of one company by another are gaining strength again, we can only stir up the discussion. CES ended and the sudden absence of Intel's CEO, along with AMD’s position in the market, made people think. Almost every analyst sticks to the position that the merger of Intel and AMD is fantastic. But there is no smoke without fire.

Intel and AMD merger: possible?

The merger of Intel and AMD will give one company a completecontrol over the entire personal computer market. ARM is simply not trustworthy in the usual server or personal space, so that this company can be considered a threat to Intel’s dominance in the market, and nothing will change in the foreseeable future. To justify the merger, AMD and Intel will have to prove that their merger will induce companies that currently have no plans to aggressively invade the PC industry to start doing this to overcome the dominant player. But there is little chance of that. No regulator will bite it.

Moreover, it is not entirely clear what each hasfrom companies that would need another. Even if you think that AMD processor technologies are cooler than Intel's, integrating AMD technologies into Intel’s production process will be a daunting task. Intel could have chosen to buy an AMD graphics processor manufacturing business to integrate it into its own, but the company has already stolen more than enough AMD GPU team members (and AMD will not sell the series that perpetuates it inside Xbox and PlayStation). Intel, of course, could have bought the AMD x86 business without any legal problems, but at the risk of getting further claims as a company with a monopoly on the PC market.

Where do rumors' feet grow from?

The reason for the gossip, apparently, wasLisa Soo's wonderful performance at CES. Intel may try to cheat AMD's CEO - but this does not have to buy a company. And it is not difficult to notice the difference between Intel, which has been dealing with the acting CEO for several months, and AMD, whose CEO has become a rising star.

But in this case, it is not clear how this newthe director will fit into the company's narrative. Intel and AMD have slightly different landmarks and sources of income. Intel is spending billions of dollars to position new emerging markets on 5G, the Internet of Things, self-driving cars, AI, and others. AMD, by contrast, sticks to the main core and gently attacks the markets with the Radeon Instinct, trying to improve its position.

AMD, losing ground in the PC and server space,looking for a new role. Ryzen 7-nm is expected to provide new sales to the company, while Intel's search is less defined because it is busy with new markets.

No matter what company you arewhether you prefer or what processors you like more, there is no doubt that companies are now positioned somewhat differently, plotting their future income plans. It is not clear how weak the overall position of Intel. If the company does not cope with the increase in 10-nm production, we will say that the delays in the 10-nm were the reason for the emergence of new problems. If the 10-nm will work, after 12-18 months, the position of Intel will look very different. In general, no shocks or major mergers between competitors can be expected yet.

But it would be interesting. You can discuss in our chat in Telegram.