Barcelona 45-nm Pilots and Demos as Early as December
In a twist, one financial analyst has lowered expectations for AMD, yet retains his Buy recommendation for the stock.
Downgrading the company, the analyst cites the late introduction of Barcelona and slow clock speeds, which we already knew about, but also “poor uptake” (24/7 Wall St.).
The AmTech analyst furthermore attributes the problems of Barcelona to “a bad marriage of process technology and design” (EE Times, Barron’s).
There exists an “architectural mismatch of Barcelona with the 65-nm process node” (EET).
Let’s not forget, the problems of performance which have besieged Barcelona extend to AMD graphics as well.
The analyst expects AMD to introduce results and demonstrations of 45-nm processors as early as December. It “will be more important to deliver early 45-nm samples than a 2.5GHz Barcelona processor” (EET).
While the analyst mentions the importance of introducing smaller process geometries and new CPU designs, he seems to disregard that to introduce both at the same time can be a recipe for disaster, as evidenced by Barcelona.
AMD needs to get the kinks out of Barcelona before introducing sweeping architectural changes and migrating to 45 nanometers.
By keeping the design of Barcelona more or less the same, while ironing out imperfections and introducing relatively minor architectural improvements, AMD can better move to a new 45-nm process.
The analyst expects AMD to do better, not in the next 3-6 months but in the next 12. Those expecting “a strong Barcelona ship-in in Q4 will be disappointed” (Barron’s).
AmTech nevertheless maintains a “Buy rating on the stock” (Barron’s).
AMD Gets A Downgrade, Analyst cuts AMD forecast amid MPU snags, AMD: AmTech Trims Ests On Concerns Over Barcelona