AMD is 55 years old. Few people just a little older than me, like me, expected it to last much more than 45 years. Just a decade ago, AMD was on the brink of a crisis, with a poor data center business and a dodgy CPU architecture that was not what was advertised and was the subject of a $12.1 million class action lawsuit. there was.
But with strong, wise leadership and a proven track record of delivering on promises time and time again, AMD has turned things around. It is now one of the darlings of the technology industry, looking down on the giant Intel that once trampled on it.
So, to celebrate this milestone, Mark Papermaster, AMD’s Chief Technology Officer and Paper Master, wrote a blog post titled:Celebrating 55 years of innovation at AMD. ”
So what is his take on 50 years of silicon engineering? 50 years of wild swings between brilliance and mediocrity, and back again? Did he stubbornly keep Intel from dominating his CPU market and the entire industry for 50 years? What are we really supposed to celebrate in all of this?
Oh, I just want to focus on the end Five For years, it’s all been about AI, right? Is that what we’re celebrating? Is it something that AMD is basing its entire worldview on only now because it’s a big topic in the industry right now and is worth a lot of money?Look back a year or so. And while AMD hasn’t made any fuss about AI being the leader, yet here we are, Papermaster’s most used word/phrase/acronym out of all 1,000+ words is AI. is. “celebration”.
But I understand. Artificial intelligence is going to be the biggest thing to happen in the computing industry over the next few years, and perhaps beyond. It’s understandable that AMD wants to show off how strong its position in the market is, even if Nvidia’s rivals are seen as inferior. The only ticket in town.
But maybe that’s what I should focus on in my blog talking about it. Next AMD’s 55 years of innovation. That’s because the company is arguably in its strongest position ever, and there are no recent concerns about its survival.
Look at R&D levels from 2019 to 2023. Papermaster says investment in the field has increased almost fourfold from $1.5 billion in 2019 to $5.9 billion in 2023, and the company continues to invest in innovative technologies. We plan to invest in development.” Early promise. ” However, it’s worth noting that this is close to the level of annual R&D spending that Intel still racks up on a quarterly basis.
But they still have fab and have been doing so lately. Real men still have fab, Jerry.?