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Analyst: AMD considering ATI bid

RBC Capital Markets industry trackers believe microprocessor manufacturer could be picking up the graphics-card maker.

Microprocessor maker AMD might soon make a move to acquire graphics-card manufacturer ATI Technologies, according to a pair of analysts from RBC Capital Markets. In a note to investors about AMD rival Intel, Apjit Walla and Jas Rashid said their "recent checks in the PC food chain" have indicated that a marriage between the two companies could be coming soon.

The pair notes that the idea of Intel or AMD purchasing a graphics-chip maker has been batted around for a while, and that the idea falls in line with AMD's stated intent to increase its capacity in the coming years. As for ATI being singled out as the target of an acquisition, the pair called the company "a rare buy in the semiconductor space right now."

The pair of analysts didn't focus so much on how AMD would benefit from the move but did say an acquisition of ATI by AMD "would obviously be a clear positive for the graphics space." The stock market's focus was similarly one-sided. ATI stock closed up almost nine percent to $16.51 today, while AMD shares rose more modestly, a little over one percent to $30.89.

102 Comments

  • chicken_dude_05

    Posted Jul 26, 2006 7:51 pm GMT

    That's good, Because i always get ATI and AMD mixed up. (I dont know why)

  • llontop

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 2:34 pm GMT

    BAH why ATI? i do like the idea of AMD/Nvidia better. I'll take AMD over intel any day but i don't know about switching back to ATI.....ugh....

  • shadownessdark

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 11:46 am GMT

    I think this is a great idea coz AMD and ATI are two of the best coimpanies for graphics and CPU's

  • OmegaDark

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 11:42 am GMT

    Holy crap! I'm an avid AMD & ATi supporter. My recently built gaming PC is running on an AMD & ATi. I couldn't be happier!

  • jaefrmbk2k

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 9:25 am GMT

    personally, i like ATI in spite of the fact that they are Canadian

  • wolflegresley

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 9:03 am GMT

    Maybe ATI Would be able ot contend with Nvidia ....

  • Destro80

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 8:46 am GMT

    Nvidia Sucks.


    The End

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 8:28 am GMT

    i guess that would be good

  • gtomlinson

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 7:46 am GMT

    I have to disagree with the majority of comments here. As a programmer, GPU design carries a whole different set of processing requirements than CPU. This could prove to be very good for the CPU market and very bad for the GPU market. ATI and nVidea are neck-and-neck in the graphics card business. I imagine the way this would play out would be that ATI performance will stagnate while nVidea hardware performance would continue to improve...for a while. When ATI is no longer a real competitor to push the envelope of performance, nVidea will end up as a veritable monopoly inside of 3 years and there will be no further improvement.

    A sad, sad day that would be...

  • esmarsu

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 7:38 am GMT

    Itīs was a matter of time! but I have to admit that I thought it was going to be intel who was going to buy ati

  • Spartan1017

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 6:51 am GMT

    sound's good

  • Phazevariance

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 6:28 am GMT

    I personally like ATI but mostly because they are Canadian. I prefer nVidia cards because every game i've seen compared on ATI to nVidia the nVidia rig seems to run the game smoother (or what looks smoother anyways) not to mention how ATI drivers bloat the OS and slow stuff down a lot of times. ATI's openGL support is terrible anyways... So most of ID's games would work crappy

  • Igiss

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 5:54 am GMT

    Two best unite, that's good... though it won't be good if two best will become one worst leading as a result. Leaders care less.

  • Autolycus

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 5:27 am GMT

    you could say goodbye to NVIDIA FANS buying AMD if they did that....there are WAY to many NVIDIA fans(since ATI cant make windows drivers for cr ap) for AMD to risk doing...

  • G_W_X

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 5:09 am GMT

    I don tlike the sound of it.....
    Will ATI continue to make the graphics for Wi? if that happens?i.....will all that stay in place?
    Remember when Peter Moleneaux(sp?) said he liked the Wii-remote? What happened...microsft went and bought his Linohead Studios...to continue their FABLE-NESS...
    But wait, now me thinks of it...read this.... http://www.easynintendo.net/viewtopic.php?t=9
    Mentions of ATI and AMD made in the same sentence ....hmmm?.............

  • skinnypete91

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 3:21 am GMT

    WOO and YAY!

  • westcoastxbox2

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 2:12 am GMT

    i bet one of these will happen
    AMD+ATI
    Intel+ATI
    AMD+nVidia
    Intel+nVidia

    i keep hearing nVidia is more stable but ATI is better looking. i have a ATI graphics card and if i put it high my PC F.... up. so i thing in the end AMD will try to get both to kill intel.

  • ubj007

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 1:45 am GMT

    Interesting News

  • never-named

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 1:32 am GMT

    ATI should consider partnering with Intel instead.

  • sstravisd

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 1:18 am GMT

    The best merging yet?

  • smbius

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 12:52 am GMT

    This would be a scary move. I hope AMD does not do this or hope they are not allowed by the NYSE to do it. This would mean that motherboards would have chipsets specific to AMD-based processors. Intel may have no choice but to deal and cut their chipset division.

  • M4ki

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 12:37 am GMT

    Although AMD made CPU's give better results in games...i prefer Intel, they keep up with AMD in the game section, and on the rest....well...see for yourself.
    Also, I thought ATi had a contract with Intel....
    And as for the GPU's...i prefer nVidia...better modding and more stable...

  • arafay1

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 12:21 am GMT

    i would like to see AMD+Nvidia, the combination would be "UNBEATABLE"

  • LOLO_BOND

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 12:07 am GMT

    it could benefits amd, but a lots of business ati could loss ifs been buy out, think of the future of 360, ms has to buy an amd and ati chip, think now this price... $450 for a core system, amd make right now the high price cpu

  • Kfoss

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 12:05 am GMT

    WHAT....thats wierd? mergers usually occurr to advert financial collapse...is ATI in troubble?..uMMMMmmmm and i hate to tell AMD but untill everyone goes FULL 64..there dual core is still only half assed .....and close to grand for a chip..you can keep that man....

    and i like amd...MEh...

  • tutejaa

    Posted May 31, 2006 11:13 pm GMT

    this would be horrible for ATI

  • mpeg3s

    Posted May 31, 2006 11:07 pm GMT

    I like AMD. If there is a buy, I hope it is ATI.

    Intel will never buy Nvidia. They never need to buy anything.

    Intel can sell cheap GPUs for the next decade.

  • whateverman1579

    Posted May 31, 2006 10:53 pm GMT

    yet again.. more americaan corperate takeover of canada -_-

  • kawakev

    Posted May 31, 2006 10:27 pm GMT

    I hope this deal won't work because I don't want any more canadian companies being sold to foreign capitals. (is that what they're called?) is ATI currently owned by a canadian anyways? It would so cool if the government would instead nationalize the Graphics Cards in canada and would offer benificiary prices to Canadian citizens and instead make profits on the global market. With a rightish government(conservatives) in place right now I doubt this would be happening but one can always dream.

    Speaking of dreaming, wouldn't an all-AMD console be insane? wonder what it would look like **own PC comes to mind**, ok nevermind that idea.

  • reformedgamer

    Posted May 31, 2006 9:39 pm GMT

    This could be good, but this could bomb big time like 3dfx when they purchased STB. It could go either way. Personally, I would like to see ATI independent from any processor company. It would stimulate technology a lot more.

  • Sango_Fighter

    Posted May 31, 2006 9:32 pm GMT

    While Intel is the #1 graphic chip seller, we all know that its GPUs are a piece of c**p when playing a graphic intense game. With the future release of Windows Vista, those Intel intergrated chips won't be around for long. In place is a Intel and ATI deal to have ATI chips in Intel Chipsets. With rumors of both Intel/AMD wanting to buy ATI, there might be a real bidding war.

    Fact:
    Market Capitalization
    ATI -$4 billion, chips found in xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii
    Nvidia-$8 billion chip found in PS3

    Both ATI/Nvidia are very close in the total sales in GPU but have a difference about $4 billion in market cap value. (Personally their stock prices should be a lot higher but both CEO's wives do too much insider trading, causing their crappy prices and value.)

    The loser of the bidding war that might go for Nvidia might have to contend wtih Taiwan Semiconductor, Nvidia's largest supplier of chips, they might not be happy losing a valuable customer.

    My guess for third party bidders:
    Taiwan Semiconductor, makers of Nvidia's GPUs, Aegia Physx, and has actual cash to buy.
    Other chip makers that you never heard of like Taiwan Semiconductor

  • runstalker

    Posted May 31, 2006 9:18 pm GMT

    That'd be one hell of a team up. Incidentally, the Xbox 360 uses an ATI graphics part, in case you've per chance forgotten. Who knows. It's about time AMD goes in a console - next round.

    Dear AMD: while you're at it, please buy Ageia, and release a combination GPU/PPU card or motherboard, so we can move on.

  • KingOfOldSkool

    Posted May 31, 2006 8:55 pm GMT

    wow.. AMD sure has come a long way over the years.. between Dell going AMD and now a possible ATI purchase.. the future is as a big a toss up as ever.

  • Konfusion

    Posted May 31, 2006 8:53 pm GMT

    That would be crazy. Direct CPU-GPU bridges on AMD chipsets? Yes, please.

  • IcemanX5

    Posted May 31, 2006 8:47 pm GMT

    ah who cares, as long as good machines are made I dont care.

  • gdogg4210

    Posted May 31, 2006 8:43 pm GMT

    do it, do it, doo it

  • __SuryvoR__

    Posted May 31, 2006 8:39 pm GMT

    INTRIGUING!!!

  • Bizzar3

    Posted May 31, 2006 8:31 pm GMT

    Wow, I would love to see them get together...

  • mark_unix

    Posted May 31, 2006 8:00 pm GMT

    it would be intresting to see how they are going to avoid my patents
    sue pay sue pay moi

  • Sheiko

    Posted May 31, 2006 7:56 pm GMT

    ATI and AMD would be a damn good team as obviously seen with ATI's 3200 series chipset and AMD's dual-core. The possibilities are enourmous for both Gaming And CGI.

  • starwarsfan11

    Posted May 31, 2006 7:33 pm GMT

    AMD is awsome so there for if this happenes I will be using exclusivly ATI cards.

  • raduneo88

    Posted May 31, 2006 7:30 pm GMT

    Good thing ATI is the one to unite with AMD. I mean the latest cards from ATi simply beat the ones from nVidia in next-gen games (Oblivion would be one of the first that proves that...).

  • damstr

    Posted May 31, 2006 7:27 pm GMT

    Yeah I thought it would've been the other way around with AMD buying nVidia.

  • JLCrogue

    Posted May 31, 2006 7:23 pm GMT

    AMD pwns, w00t!!

  • DVD7227

    Posted May 31, 2006 7:19 pm GMT

    This could probably mark history in gaming.
    XD

  • broker1

    Posted May 31, 2006 7:07 pm GMT

    It would be a good move by AMD to acquire them. They would certainly continue the ATi brand, as it has a big name recognition and marketshare. But it would also allow them to use ATi's R&D and technology to possibly develop AMD branded GPU's. Then the logical leap from there is motherboards with intergrated AMD CPU's & GPU's, a huge cost saving that with be a plus for competing with Intel in the off the shelve consumers and small business.

    For gaming as a whole, I agree with DELTAsnake somewhat, I dont think they would nerf performance with their competiors products, rather performance could be optimal with AMD/ATi cards, that would be expected if they are developing both in close relationship.

  • Valen_Ca

    Posted May 31, 2006 7:03 pm GMT

    If this is true, I would much rather it be AMD to buy them out then Intel.

  • decebal

    Posted May 31, 2006 7:02 pm GMT

    i like competition

  • Chrono-Trigger

    Posted May 31, 2006 6:53 pm GMT

    I would like nvidia cards to be optimized for AMD processors Mostly cause I have both >

  • ProsserBoy

    Posted May 31, 2006 6:51 pm GMT

    AMD and ATI are both the underdog in their respective market, right? Then they should combine forces.

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