Speculation is rampant about AMD’s planned “ambidextrous” mobile strategy, after a series of announcements yesterday by AMD’s top brass at the company’s Financial Analyst Day.Dr. Lisa Su, AMD’s general manager, said the company would no longer be “religious” about architectures and this flexibility would be the pillar of the company’s strategic advantage.
Neither Dr. Su nor CEO Rory Read directly mentioned any specific ARM commitments on their road-map, and according to this document the company remains loyal to x86. This commitment was reinforced by Dr. Su’s announcement that AMD will be attempting to take an x86-compatible System on a Chip into the sub-2W category.
However, Dr.Su’s enthusiasm for rejecting architecture theism, and the repeated references to being “ambidextrous”, indirectly means the company will be exploring offering ARM based chips when market conditions dictate.
Another clue that points towards the potential ARMing of AMD comes from part of CEO Read’s speech at the event.
“We’re going to double down on client and mobility. I’m not suggesting we dive into smartphones, a heavily crowded space with low margins … I’m going to focus on client mobility, thin and light,” Mr. Read announced to the audience.
“You’ll see a breakdown of proprietary control points, those control points that have dominated our industry for years and years,” Read said.
“The status quo will break down.”
