AMD to receive funding from China’s Loongson Technology

[worldwin]

"VR World has learned China’s Loongson Technology, a microprocessor manufacturer that’s a joint venture between Beijing-based chip designer BLX IC Design Corp, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Computing Technology, is set to make key investments into AMD’s technologies and product lines. Loongson is best known for its Godson line of chips that use the MIPS architecture.

 

These investments are set to begin immediately. Loongson’s targeted investments will be funded by a $19 billion war chest (120 billion RMB) that the company has set aside for such ventures.

 

Loongson and AMD have worked together before in the past. AMD’s HyperTransport and PCI South as well as North bridges were in previous Godson silicon, so for Loongson AMD is not entirely foreign territory. The two opened an R&D center in December 2003 in order to develop what the two hoped would be something to counter the goliath of Intel.

 

Investing in AMD’s various technologies and product lines would be a much easier transaction for Loongson. It would not have to deal with the regulatory burden the US government might impose, nor would it need to negotiate an x86 license from Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). It is not yet clear what the end result of such investments might look like, but it could be that Loongson markets future Godson systems with more AMD inside — such as GCN GPU architecture.

 

Key AMD staff were in Beijing in late January and early February likely in meetings related to this deal."

 

Source:http://www.vrworld.com/2015/02/09/amds-real-china-play-strategic-investment/

Taking from this I think we can expect to see some strong changes for AMD in the future. Especially that 19 billion dollar warchest could be very interesting. Mind you, the warchest if for "ventures" so it may not be all going to AMD or all at once. Given that the articles states there is history between AMD and Loonsong Technology this could very well be happening.

[WinNut]

Nice. I'm excited to see what AMD has to offer in the coming years.

[silberdrachi]

very cool, i really want them to smack intel around a few times in a couple years so the whole industry moves forward. ARM shouldn't be the one competing most with Intel.

 

And good post.

[JoaoPRSousa]

Nice. I'm excited to see what AMD has to offer in the coming years.

 

IKR?

[nj4ck]

The world needs AMD. Without AMD, both Intel and Nvidia have almost no competition, and we all know where that leads. Good news for AMD is good news for everyone.

[MbV93]

AMD!!! Can't wait to see Zen, still a long wait ahead.

[Opcode]

Look what the sales of the iPhone in China did for Apple. Their revenue shot up to an almost all time high in a single quarter. The promotion and bulk sales of AMD based products in China would raise AMD revenue massively. AMD really could use that kind of money flow to help pay off their debts (I presume they plan on paying most of it off before 2020). It will be interesting to see AMD with plenty of resources at their disposable for R&D.

[Agent181]

Does this mean this will bring the amd comeback O:

[Khvarrioiren]

I'm no finance expert, but I think that this won't effect the bottom line all that much in the first few years.

[patrickjp93]

The world needs AMD. Without AMD, both Intel and Nvidia have almost no competition, and we all know where what that leads. Good news for AMD is good news for everyone.

It would be better for AMD to die and be bought up by IBM or Samsung and get a massive cash injection into R&D. AMD as it is has no flexibility or ability to go long-term against Intel.

 

Also, Intel would be forced to sell more x86 licenses since they'd officially be a monopoly, meaning the new parent company would get full access.

[Sonefiler]

It would be better for AMD to die and be bought up by IBM or Samsung and get a massive cash injection into R&D. AMD as it is has no flexibility or ability to go long-term against Intel.

Preferably IBM, because Samsung ew.

[Texhnlyze]

very cool, i really want them to smack intel around a few times in a couple years so the whole industry moves forward. ARM shouldn't be the one competing most with Intel.

 

And good post.

 

Enlighten me.

[nj4ck]

It would be better for AMD to die and be bought up by IBM or Samsung and get a massive cash injection into R&D. AMD as it is has no flexibility or ability to go long-term against Intel.

 

Also, Intel would be forced to sell more x86 licenses since they'd officially be a monopoly, meaning the new parent company would get full access.

that would work too, I guess. I'd still rather see AMD work themselves back to the top without being taken over by a larger company.

[JAKEBAB]

Will they get a say in what happens with amd chips? Do we know if there was some type of agreement between the two? As soon as i hear China i think of backdoors like Xiomi products etc (yes i know the US has it for intel chips or whatever)

[Khvarrioiren]

Will they get a say in what happens with amd chips? Do we know if there was some type of agreement between the two? As soon as i hear China i think of backdoors like Xiomi products etc (yes i know the US has it for intel chips or whatever)

 

I don't think they have that many possibilities to pressure AMD on their designs, seeing that they're using AMD's designs already.

[Guest]

Looking forward to the gaming edition of Lemote Yeeloong.

[JAKEBAB]

I don't think they have that many possibilities to pressure AMD on their designs, seeing that they're using AMD's designs already.

Well they could of said we will give you this much money (which im pretty sure they need this money) only if you make a backdoor for us.

 

Idk it was just a thought.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Gosh these Chinese companies need to think up of a better name.

[RexinOridle]

Well here in Canada, I'm happy with AMD. We need the extra heat anyway.

[Khvarrioiren]

Well they could of said we will give you this much money (which im pretty sure they need this money) only if you make a backdoor for us.

 

Idk it was just a thought.

 

Now you're just wasting perfectly fine tinfoil on your silly hat to stop the evil Chinamen from stealing your "get rich quick"-schemes.

[Ashaira]

Well here in Canada, I'm happy with AMD. We need the extra heat anyway.

Don't you have enough snow to cool everything to sub zero temps?

[deviant88]

Cool,hopefully they got a good investment plan.

[PortentousLad]

"how much do you need? Oh just 19 billion? Yeah we must have that much lying around somewhere for sure."

Great for AMD let's hope they use that money accordingly.

[SIGSEGV]

I'm just waiting for AMD to discover something that Intel hasn't then drive Intel into the ground

[patrickjp93]

that would work too, I guess. I'd still rather see AMD work themselves back to the top without being taken over by a larger company.

The problem with that is the lack of competition in the meanwhile and the much slower rate at which AMD gets new architectures out the door due to lower cash flow.