Maybe I'm reading this wrong....

N

NECyclone

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Over at xbitlabs.com there was an article about nvidia buying out AMD... Anyone else heard of this or is this old news. Sounds like the big fish eating up everything else in the ocean to me.........
 
Agreed, anti monopoly laws will jump out like a big transformer and strike at them with vengeance!
 
Even if it was possible for them to buy out amd i don't think nvidia has the type of cash on hand to do it.
 
It was a editorial on what "could happen" if AMD can't turn it around.
For it to go through, AMD would have to sell off ATi first.
 
There was a rumor of NVidia making an attempt at a takeover of AMD last month that supposedly failed. It was just a rumor and haven't heard anything since, so I seriously doubt there was any truth to it. There's all kinds of rumors floating around the industry lately.
 
I think those rumors were spawned after leaks of "something big about to be bought", but it ended up to be Ageia who they had been eyeing for a while - notice how quickly they implemented PhysX onto the 8000 series cards?
 
MrLonghair said:
I think those rumors were spawned after leaks of "something big about to be bought", but it ended up to be Ageia who they had been eyeing for a while - notice how quickly they implemented PhysX onto the 8000 series cards?
Click to expand...

lol.. why are so many people talking about this as though they know it's done? NVIDIA said they plan to do this, not that it is done.
 
If AMD was competing at early 2006 levels, I would see nvidia buying them up. But your setting yourself up for a video card monopoly, their is no way you can split ATi off and they keep their competitive edge the whole time. Nvidia would be paying off AMDs debt for two years, thats if they can profit like they did last year, spite the fact that they would have 2 (soon to be 3) CPU fabs.

Their is also a mention in that article that the "x86 license" that AMD holds would be void if nvidia purchases it, but not IBM, someone please explain that to me.

I am not saying it won't happen but some things look too good to be true, the last thing nvidia wants is to tank a leading and profitable company (themselves) for a huge risk that AMD is, especially since their future of CPUs is still up in the air.

IBM must be salivating hardcore however for AMD.
 
People said this about intel when AMD was on top, Not going to happen.
 
Simpson5774 said:
IBM must be salivating hardcore however for AMD.
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I agree but you would be surprised how many people here think it's a bad idea for IBM. One or two people mentioned the possibility in the AMD forum recently and they got blasted for it. AMD should be bought and IBM is one of the best contenders IMO.
 
wera said:
People said this about intel when AMD was on top, Not going to happen.
Click to expand...

AMD was on top performance wise, but AMD has never been in a financial situation to buy Intel. They simply have never had enough money to do it.
 
nV certainly does have the cash/stock on hand to buy AMD, but there are several reasons why they wouldn't.

Anti-monopoly laws as discussed above
x86 licensing issues (between amd and intel) that would prevent the transfer of technology to a new company.

And the biggest in my mind
Who would want to take on the roughly 5 Billion-with-a-B debt that AMD has itself in at the moment?
 
[RCKY] Thor;1032073403 said:
nV certainly does have the cash/stock on hand to buy AMD, but there are several reasons why they wouldn't.

Anti-monopoly laws as discussed above
x86 licensing issues (between amd and intel) that would prevent the transfer of technology to a new company.

And the biggest in my mind
Who would want to take on the roughly 5 Billion-with-a-B debt that AMD has itself in at the moment?
Click to expand...
Very, very true, but purchased they shall be. It's only a matter of time and who the buyer will be in the end remains to be seen. I can't see AMD continuing like this indefinitely. Sometime in the near future they have to show significant progress if not actual profit. Having one or two successful video architecture generations is simply not sufficient to make up for the past year and a half of inordinately high debt, ineffectual management and inadequate production.
 
I don't think anyone has the money to purchase AMD, including IBM and the big private equity firms. The big problem is AMD's debt ($5.3 billion as of last September), as you'd be buying that as well. AMD's credit rating was recently lowered, to B- from B, which raised the interest rate on future debt, which (according to analysts) will likely be more than $500 million this year. By the end of the year AMD's debt could exceed $6 billion, which isn't insignificant even to IBM.

Although AMD's market cap is a little under $3 billion right now, but that's not the whole story. The company is currently valued at about $8 billion (including assets), but any offer would likely have to exceed that. So let's say (for sake of argument) that someone comes along and offers $10 - $12 billion, which could be reasonable, but they'd still have to assume AMD's current debt which would drive the cost of the deal to $16 - $18 billion.

On the upper end, I don't think that nVidia could afford a $18 billion purchase. I'm not sure they could even borrow that much if they could - the amount of available money floating around in the banking system after the sub-prime mortgage fiasco has seen to that.

If for some reason nVidia did buy the company, the antitrust people would make AMD sell ATI, and I think ATI is one of the reasons someone might want AMD. Graphics IP is paramount in today's market, ie. the "Fusion" thing where the GPU is integrated with the CPU. If Intel's doing it then any real competitor would have to as well. The profit on a GPU is much higher than a CPU as well. Not to mention nVidia potentially losing the x86 license in a takeover, which is a deal breaker. Why would nVidia buy a CPU company if it loses the license to make that company's main product? It's said that nVidia's relationship with Intel is less than cordial, so negotiating a license could be a real headache.

I think if you're looking for a buyer for AMD, you'd have to look to Europe. The EU would go nuts if Intel tried to cancel the x86 license after a takeover - Intel wouldn't dare, especially since the EU is investigating them for antitrust. It's also likely that the US government wouldn't block a deal with a European company, like they most certainly would with a mainland Asian firm. There was a rumour a while ago that Samsung approached AMD but the US government put an end to any talks almost before they began. A Japanese company may be approved, I see this as a possibility, but I think that Europe is more likely.

It is time for a takeover of AMD, I think it will happen before the end of the year. The question is - who wants them?
 
Nvidia wont buy AMD however I think IBM might. I would actually like to see that happen. IBM's R&D combined with Ati/amd would be nice. There is a really good read about the possibility at Tomshardware.com Click here
 
Simpson5774 said:
Their is also a mention in that article that the "x86 license" that AMD holds would be void if nvidia purchases it, but not IBM, someone please explain that to me.
Click to expand...

I think that's because IBM has a license to produce x86 chips in its fabs. The way Intel makes its licensing dead is pretty strange.
 
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