AMD -- Global Slowdown or Bad Business?

[DaveJ]

Just a question toward the great economic minds here. I have no idea beyond gut instinct.

A.M.D., Citing a Slowdown, to Cut 1,650 Jobs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/technology/08amd.html?ref=business

I naively do not understand why AMD would need 1,650 employees alone, much less 16,000 of them. Again, I know I am naive, but, I am one person trying to develop a product all be myself, with no help, so I can't fathom how 16,000 people would be needed to develop a product line.

I think AMD is just losing out to Intel and others, they are "corporate" and lacking enough vision to use their human know-how wisely, and that it is not a "global slowdown" as they claim. But maybe I'm wrong....

[lurky]

1. Probably just losing to Intel.

Because AMD CPUs are much less expensive for equivalent quality, I would think their business might actually be helped by the sinking economy.

Most people don't buy chips, though, they buy computers. And if Intel can strong-arm PC makers into using only their products, then AMD is in trouble.

Re the number of employees they have: Um... designing computer chips is really, really hard. You need lots of really smart engineers and scientists. Plus they have to have a bunch of high-tech factories to make the chips (here and overseas). Then you have sales, marketing, distribution, hr, etc. They don't just make one kind of chip either. They have a lot of different products, that might be inside your TV or your phone, or your microwave.

[DaveJ]

2. I have a different take on matters

AMD can't be the Wal-mart of chip manufacturers. It doesn't work that way. If that's what they are trying then that's why they are losing. I think once a superior chip is designed, mass producing it at an affordable cost should be the easy part, for a big corporation anyway.

I also realize they are designing more than PC CPU's. The problem is, for them anyway, it looks like Intel has the better engineers. But that doesn't mean they can't leverage what they have.

Anyway, my point is that AMD is another cold heartless American Corporation by laying off 10% of its workforce, instead of being lead by brilliant people (I guess that idea is a joke in itself) who could harness the power of the employees they had to propel technology into the next era. That thought is just crazy, I guess, to executives and shareholders who just want to buy another yacht.

Too bad for us.