AMD's chip sales sink further

NEWS

Chipmaker AMD said on Wednesday that third-quarter sales will come to approximately $500m (£320m), less than expected, and the company will report a "substantial operating loss" for the quarter. 2002 will not be looked back on with fondness by the Sunnyvale, California-based chipmaker. AMD earlier predicted that sales for the third quarter would improve modestly from the $600m achieved in the second quarter. That second-quarter figure, though, was a major disappointment. AMD initially predicted it would rack up $820m to $900m in revenue for the quarter, but went on to cut expectations twice. The third quarter will mark AMD's fifth-straight quarter of losses. Profits are not expected to return until next year. In the last few months, the company has had difficulty in releasing new chips in volume. The Athlon XP 2400+, originally due in the second quarter, has only begun to appear in small volumes on the market. PCs featuring two new chips, the Athlon XP 2700+ and 2800+, won't come out until late November. "Clawhammer", a hotly anticipated chip for desktops, has been delayed until late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter. "While our flash memory business is improving and showed sequential sales growth for the second consecutive quarter, the weakness in the personal computer market continues to impact AMD," said Robert J. Rivet, the company's chief financial officer. AMD, of course, is not the only chipmaker feeling the pinch. On Tuesday, Britain's ARM Holdings, which designs chip designs for cell phones and handhelds, said that both revenue and earnings would fall short of expectations. ARM had long been insulated from the tech slump because it sells its designs to chip makers, rather than to companies and end users. Intel, meanwhile, said sales for the quarter would come in at around $6.6bn, slightly lower than anticipated. PC sales have also been off. Dell Computer, which has been nabbing market share from rivals, is one of the few companies to announce that current sales are better than expected. On an optimistic note, however, representatives at Dell on Tuesday reiterated that they are seriously examining Opteron, an AMD server chip set for release around the middle of next year. Dell has been testing the processor since July and is currently debating whether to adopt it, or Intel's Itanium 2, for high-end servers that need 64-bit chips. Dell currently does not sell Itanium 2 machines and has never used an AMD processor. "You should expect that we will have a better sense of what will do in 64-bit computing by the end of the year," a Dell representative said. AMD will report earnings on 16 October.

See the Finance News Section for the latest financial news in the high-tech sector. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the Finance forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

ike fuelband is great for every healthminded person ! to work out! theres this website called textme4free.com that you can use to text anywhere in...

8 hours ago by bordero on Nike's FuelBand wristband gamifies exercise

> I'm told it's somewhat annoying when people have their Macs stolen > and Apple stores treat the thief as the owner, but there you go. Ouch,...

10 hours ago by BrownieBoy on AMD Ultrathins to challenge Intel Ultrabooks

@kevinmchapman. OK, I acknowledge that 'most' was a gratuitous throwaway comment as an afterthought and too presumptuous. As to proof, as you...

14 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

@BrownieBoy > Works really well for thieves.... >> Nice attempt to deflect the argument by tossing in a point that's totally >> irrelevant, even...

15 hours ago by Jack Schofield on AMD Ultrathins to challenge Intel Ultrabooks

fantastic that the so called piracy bills have been withdrawn. however, these anti-democracy supporters are still in the shadows so lets be alert...

16 hours ago by raskolnikof on SOPA, Protect IP support wavers in face of online protest

Please God no; teach them anything you like - thinking rationally, the uses and misuses of data, what data is and what it's not - but leave the...

18 hours ago by Tony Douglas via Facebook on Kids are the future. Teach ’em to code.

@Jack, > Works really well for thieves.... Nice attempt to deflect the argument by tossing in a point that's totally irrelevant, even it were...

1 day ago by BrownieBoy on AMD Ultrathins to challenge Intel Ultrabooks

Make that 13 people now - I got refused today at Manchester airport. I thought I was up to date on this legislation - I knew of the EU ruling from...

1 day ago by bootlegger on UK airport body scans will not be opt out

Don't forget to check out apps like GoodReader or SlideShark either, they're indispensible for people on the go in presentation situations. Best...

2 days ago by tinycg on Four top iPad apps for people on the move

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

2 days ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

2 days ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

3 days ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint