ATI & AMD to join forces

On July 24, 2006, AMD and ATI announced a plan to join forces, in a transaction that will combine AMD’s technology leadership in microprocessors with ATI’s strengths in graphics, chipsets and consumer electronics. The result is a processing powerhouse: a new competitor, better equipped to drive growth, innovation and choice for its customers in commercial and mobile computing segments and in rapidly-growing consumer electronics segments. The transaction, valued at US $5.4 billion, is expected to close in Q4 2006 subject to approval by ATI shareholders, court approval, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

NVidia & Intel next? :)

puki

I think this quite good. However, I wonder what the downsides are? There must be some downsides to this.

Gabriel

The obvious downside is it possibly leading to more proprietary technology, more divisions and software either not taking full advantage or having to be written twice.

RAM Digital Media

Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, didn't Intel already do their own graphics by default, after all, Intel does do Graphics Media Accelerator as an integrated feature on their mobos. However, to have nVidia on their side, that would probably do somewhat better for them. However, I thought AMD would've given you a choice on graphics cards. That still doesn't mean that AMD won't let you change to an nVidia card, tho. After all, ATI's also been a big combination with the PowerPC processor in X360, GameCube, and Wii platforms, as well as Macs, which now use Intel and ATI combos. Hmm, if Apple can get away with ATI and Intel, then what'll AMD say about that one?

Leadwerks

I love the wording of the article. AMD buys ATI out and calls it "creating a new competitor".

RAM Digital Media

Well, as said before, there are plenty of Intel-based ATI PCs and Macs out there, so what does this mean for the future of the Macintosh, or the upcoming game consoles? Also, there are plenty of PC manufacturers that still may want the choice, like Dell for example. I only wish I knew what this meant for them...

AlexZ

I do not like NVidea and I do not like AMD. I have an Intel and ATi. I would be very mad if ATi cards will not work or work very poorly on Intel systems. In fact, that might be the push I need to get into Macs... since I can get XP on it too! ;)

Picklesworth

Since I prefer AMD's processors and ATI's video cards, I have decided that this was bound to happen eventually and I should be glad it's not Intel and ATI.
(Though such things may cause Intel to better support OGL...)

I think the hardware manufacturers will learn soon enough that they have to get along better to keep a market with PCs, but I'm worried that some of them won't care.
Those chip manufacturers do a lot of specific, proprietary hardware for companies like Apple and Microsoft, so why not 'just build more game consoles'?