Abit: Not Dead Yet?

Well, perhaps the rumors aren't exactly on target. Abit's website still indicates that they'll return to normal business on 1/5/2009, or basically "now" with the wonder of time zones. I guess we'll see what the future holds for Abit. They're certainly not a powerhouse anymore, but 12/31/2008 came and went... Best of luck to Abit, and as more news happens, I'll try to keep on top of it. Apologies to Abit, if this is an unbstantiated rumor.

Intel: i7 first benchmarks released.

I'm not going to rehash what's out there, and what's out there is still pouring in, but Core i7 is fast. Big surprise there. Here are some early reviews:

Maximum PC
TechSpot
PC Perspective

Expect mass-market acceptance by Q2-Q3 of '09, but with the Core i7 920 at around $270, that's tempting for a midrange + system now. i7 Xeon benchmarks are still MIA as far as I can tell, but expect similar performance.

Shanghai will be good, but Intel has so much breathing room now... things are looking grim over at the green camp.

Intel Strikes Back: the poison pill edition

It looks like Intel is trying to block the AMD/Foundry deal-- AMD and Intel cross license each others' Intellectual Property very heavily and they object. This would transition some Intel IP to probably be used by Foundry, and Intel and Foundry do not cross-license. I expect this to get a little legally ugly here, as Intel has the upper hand. If AMD pulls x86-64, that would really hurt Intel, but without x86, AMD is deader than dead.

AMD goes Fabless

Well, it's official. AMD is spinning this pretty hard, but they are selling all of their Fabs and will no longer be manufacturing their own CPUs. AMD sold off all of their Fabs worldwide in a deal with ATIC -- Advanced Technology Investment Corporation. ~3000 AMD employees will transition to the new company/joint venture which will be named Foundry.

The Inquirer is already dubbing the joint venture Arabian Micro Devices, and I can't say that I disagree. I'm concerned that this is funded ultimately through ATIC by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi itself. Yes, AMD will retain 45% share in stock, but if things turn sour the already troubled chipmaker is now at the mercy of the new managers of its former Fabs as well.

Obviously a lot of chipmakers operate in a fabless manner. I've had some experience with Silicon Labs-- a company that has never owned or operated a Fab, but still does OK for itself. Certainly the advantage is that you don't have to specialize in desiging, building and operating the Fab itself in a manner that recoups your huge facility investments in the most efficient manner possible. That frees you up to concentrate on design and be more agile... but it also prevents you from having any direct control of Fab outputs. Not getting enough ICs? Bad yields? They can't just shuffle production around by fiat to get the outputs they need.

If this were such a positive deal, why wouldn't AMD have gone for this 5 years ago, when Fabless started to become the new awesome thing? They were already having problems with their own fabrication processes. Chartered Semiconductor is already doing Fabrication for them as a partner, and ATI produces their chips through TSMC. This is a clear sign of desperation to be doing it now, and they're lucky to have found a suitor willing to take on ~$1.3 billion in debt along with a $700 million set of fabrication assets.

I've got to admit, I'm a little nostalgic at the news. I lived a few blocks from the K5 Fab (Fab 25) as it was spinning up in the mid 90's. I sat at the bus stop many a day and watched AMD hotshots drive past in their Lotus Esprits. Those days are not to return.

Industry: nVidia to Leave the Chipset Market?

Xbit Labs and the Inquirer are reporting that nVidia is set to leave the chipset market entirely, with the Inq saying it's a done deal. Digitimes is proposing a more moderate view on the rumor, while the Tech Report has an article that contains a full, apparently official rebuttal from nVidia. There seems to be more than a grain of truth here as nVidia hasn't reached a deal with Intel to be able to license QuickPath Interconnect for the upcoming Nehalem processor. With no plans in sight yet to support new Intel motherboard technologies after roughly Q3 2008, that leaves nVidia with their original market, AMD.

There's just one problem with that... AMD finally has an in-house chipset maker with the ATI acquisition and they're pushing their own ATI chipset-based products. So faced with stiff competition over the bottom 20% of the market, what's nVidia to do? Is SLI doomed? Will nVidia break the software restrictions on SLI and allow SLI in Intel or even ATI motherboards? What about some of the cool tech that's trickling out like hybrid SLI?

With the failure of mobile G84/86 chipsets and falling stock prices, things must be a bit tense over at nVidia right about now. Competing aggressively with Intel has to be in the cards for nVidia to remain relevant in the chipset market.

Hardware: Hector Ruiz out at AMD

AMD's former chief, Hector Ruiz has been replaced by Dirk Meyer as President and CEO. Will Dirk continue to tell us that crap smells like roses, or will we see a CEO who concentrates on the strengths that AMD has and turn the ship around? Time will tell...