Top chip sellers in China for '07

[2senile]

http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/sh...QCIC4CQSNDLRSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=212101402

Apologies if this is "old news" to everybody. I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the % of revenue from China for AMD (26.1%) & Intel (12.7%).

With the current world situation could AMD be somewhat cushioned by having such a large percentage of revenue from China?

I'm assuming China won't be quite as badly affected by the downturn & domestic consumtion/demand will continue to be relatively strong.

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

well keep in mind intel is still selling more chips than amd in china. I suppose this could mean that amd will be less affected by the downturn on the US economy but AMD's stock prices would suggest they've been hit pretty hard. Down from about $6 in september to about $2 now.

 

[3dilettante]

The question is what exactly Intel and AMD are selling in that market.

My impression was that the product mix is decidedly lower margin for AMD, and it is likely the same for Intel in a growing but less affluent market.

Even if we assume China avoids the effects of a US downturn (there are serious signs this is already untrue), AMD's significant fraction of China revenues may be more due to the lack of growth in spendier non-China markets.

 

[pcchen]

IMHO China actually feel the downturn even earlier than the US. Thousands of factories were closed, and many people were laid off.

Anyway, in this economic situation, I think products like Atom will be very important, because people are less likely to buy the fastest processors available.

 

[2senile]

I'd read China was still expecting positive growth for '09.

As for the Atom, I'd expect the Loongson CPU to be more attractive.

Also, the four core "Godson 3" is due next year with an eight core heterogeneous version due later.

Tough times ahead in China for both intel & AMD for CPU sales ... possibly.

 

[pcchen]

Of course China is expecting positive growth, just not as "positive" as before. Otherwise there would be very severe consequences.

The Loongson CPU is a MIPS CPU, not x86 compatible. Maybe people are still underestimating the importance of x86 compatibility. Actually many netbooks out there are still running Windows. You can't run Windows on a Loongson CPU.

 

[2senile]

Godson-3.

But its singular head-turning feature is the proposed Intel "x86" compatibility mode.

 

[pcchen]

Godson-3 is still a MIPS core. It added some instructions to accelerate x86 emulators. We still don't know how fast it can run Windows compared to Atom.

 

[2senile]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10034825-64.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.0

"The most interesting part of the chip is that they're adding about 200 new instructions to assist with x86 compatibility," Halfhill said.

At its core, it is a MIPS RISC processor--but one that proposes to run Intel-compatible software efficiently enough that most Chinese may not notice the difference. "It won't be an x86 processor. But the 200 instructions will optimize the (Intel) performance," Halfhill said.

Guess we'll all have to wait to see how it turns out.

One think I expect is that if it goes into every School, University & Gov't office in China people may be weaned off x86.

Ooops, Another thing I expect is that the Chinese Gov't will make sure it goes into every School, University & Gov't office in China.

 

[3dilettante]

AMD's latest guidance for a 25% QoQ decline seems to belie the contention that a heavier revenue share China has left AMD appreciably better positioned than Intel in the face of oncoming recession.
Intel's also warning of decline, but AMD's numbers are pretty bad, to put it kindly.

 

[2senile]

Bit of a shock. I think everybody expected something after intel came out, but not that much.

Of course, it would be good if we had breakdowns of exactly what everybody is selling in China. One of my hopes, when starting the thread, was that somebody here would have been able to supply that info'.

Sadly it seems that is not to be.