“Bernstein [Research, a company] was among a handful of researchers who wondered aloud how much longer AMD would be around. * * * AMD has less than $1 billion in cash on hand for the first time since 2001
AMD “fumbled the server market, where Intel dominates, and the tablet and mobile markets, owned mostly by Qualcomm. Regrouping would require billions of dollars—and AMD doesn’t have the money.
“Things don’t look much better for GlobalFoundries [which AMD split off and sold in 2008]. * * * The IBM deal [where IBM will pay GlobalFoundries $1.5 billion to take on the unprofitable chipmaking operations of the former] could make sense as part of a plan to make GlobalFoundries an attractive acquisition for one of the other chipmakers, likely Samsung.
“As AMD’s position shrinks, the new story will be Intel vs. Samsung, each with tens of billions on the table and everything up for grabs.
Note: summary underneath the title in print: Long a distant No. 2 to Intel, the chipmaker has started to run low on cash