AMD responds to processor shortage problems

For the past month or so, retailers and distributors have been complaining about shortages of AMD processors. Dell's recent adoption of AMD chips has been named as the culprit by many, and Dell even stated last month that—unlike AMD's channel partners—it had a "bountiful" supply of AMD chips. Discontent has been growing, and a system builder in Florida was quoted a few days ago as saying that AMD was effectively "divorcing" the channel. On Tuesday, AMD offered to respond in detail to these allegations, and I recently had a chat with Stephen DiFranco, AMD's Global Consumer Channel VP, about the subject.

According to DiFranco, the supply problems aren't so much caused by Dell as by generally heightened demand. He claims Dell "hasn't really had much of an impact yet" because it just started selling AMD-based systems, and because its sales are mostly concentrated in the server sector.