AMD makes fun of Intel Atom S1200 CPU launch

Intel introduced the Atom S1200 "Avoton" processor series for the microserver market, and Andrew Feldman, GM of AMD's Data Center Server Solutions group, decided to use this as an opportunity to send out a rant about Intel.

Obviously, there's some bad blood between Intel and the former CEO of SeaMicro, Feldman lashes out at Intel for being way behind on small cores and for being late to support the microserver market. He goes on to praise AMD for leading in micro server technology and points out that Intel is failing in the cell phone and tablet markets, and says Intel is now threatened that they will lose server market share.

While some of the things he says are true, it's kinda weird for AMD to send out a PR blast like this giving that the company isn't doing well in these markets either. At least Intel has a chip for the microserver market, where's yours AMD?

In a radical about face, Intel tomorrow is planning to announce a new Atom-based processor for micro servers. Intel is finally acknowledging the micro server party, although we do wonder if it’s 'too little, too late?' In a veiled attempt to rewrite history, last week Intel drug a fairly unknown engineer out of its labs to talk about its “history” in micro server development. But don’t let this fool you. Intel’s 'history' with micro servers has been very short.

A few points to keep in mind while participating in the press conference and writing your stories tomorrow:

- The original SeaMicro SM10000 server used Intel’s Atom processor, but Intel was not supportive of this. For years, the company fought SeaMicro on their choice of processor.

- Almost two years ago, Intel had a 64-bit, dual-core Atom processor part made for SeaMicro, but this processor was not promoted by Intel.

- Intel has insisted for years that micro servers not be more than 10 percent of the market. Are they back-peddling?

Intel is way behind on small cores. They have no cell phone market share, little tablet market share, and now they are threatened that they will lose server market share. AMD and its SeaMicro technology are leading the charge in micro server technology and development. We recently announced a technology partnership with ARM and plans to roll out micro servers using ARM technology. It’s understandable that Intel is threatened, but we would like to make sure that everyone has the facts straight.

Andrew Feldman, former SeaMicro CEO and now AMD’s GM of its Data Center Server Solutions group will be available to speak to you about Intel’s announcement. Please let me know if you are interested in a short 10-15 minute call with Andrew tomorrow, Tuesday, 12/11 between 10 am and noon Pacific for his comments.

Source: THG