Laptop makers complain about AMD neglecting them, favoring data center clients

[zohaibahd]

A hot potato: AMD appears to be struggling to maintain strong relationships with its laptop partners, according to multiple reports. Tensions between the chipmaker and major laptop OEMs have been escalating, with these manufacturers allegedly frustrated by poor communication and unfulfilled promises.

The situation has become so strained that a report from AC Analysis described it as a "Cold War ice age," eroding mutual trust between AMD and its laptop partners.

According to the report, the main source of the laptop makers' grievances is AMD's focus on enterprise chips at the expense of consumer products like laptop CPUs and GPUs. The laptop OEMs are reportedly frustrated by "miscommunication, unfulfilled promises, and generally poor treatment" from AMD – behavior that some compare to Intel during its peak years.

This perceived shift away from the consumer market aligns with recent comments by AMD CEO Lisa Su, who declared that the company is now "data center-first," following the news that data center revenue surpassed 50 percent of AMD's total in the last quarter.

Additionally, AC Analysis highlights a "persistent startup culture" within AMD that seems to be preventing the company from fully capitalizing on its market position.

German outlet ComputerBase echoed similar concerns, reporting that AMD is still grappling with long-standing issues such as supply chain delays that have hindered new laptop launches. One source even claimed that AMD has likely left "billions of US dollars on the table" with its partners over the years due to these persistent challenges.

"In conversation with the many manufacturers for IFA 2024, it became clear that AMD is still struggling with many problems," ComputerBase wrote. "This is one reason, among other things, why the presentation of new notebooks with AMD chips for the trade fair almost does not happen. AMD still does not manage to deliver chips quickly and [there is] a permanent problem that has been almost known for a decade."

The lukewarm reception to AMD's new Strix Point laptop chips among OEMs reflects these frustrations. Customers aren't eager to buy them, either. According to AC Analysis, AMD's official website currently lists only five Strix Point SKUs: two from Asus, two from HP, and one from Acer. That's just three OEMs.

In contrast, Qualcomm's debut Snapdragon X processors for laptops have garnered significantly more interest, with seven brands offering a dozen different Arm-powered designs. That's an impressive figure for a newcomer.

"With its first-generation product, Qualcomm managed to secure mentions in corporate presentations from both Intel and AMD," wrote AC Analysis. The report adds that Qualcomm stealing some of the spotlight from AMD is a "concerning trend," as newcomers typically take market share from the second-place competitor, not the market leader.

Meanwhile, AMD's longtime rival Intel continues to dominate the laptop chip market despite recent challenges. Intel is significantly ahead of AMD, projecting over 80 new laptop designs featuring its Lunar Lake silicon across more than 20 OEMs.

Based on these reports, it's clear that AMD has some work to do in mending relationships with its crucial laptop partners, especially as competition in the CPU/GPU market intensifies.

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Laptop makers complain about AMD neglecting them, favoring data center clients

 

[hahahanoobs]

That PlayStation contract was more important.

 

[passwordistaco]

That PlayStation contract was more important.

Sony and MS money has been an important, reliable revenue stream for AMD and it's good strategy to keep it going.

AMD is still most likely supply constrained. If they can get more for their cores by selling them in the data center market, then they're not "leaving billions on the table" they're maximizing revenue and margins.

 

[yRaz]

Sony and MS money has been an important, reliable revenue stream for AMD and it's good strategy to keep it going.

AMD is still most likely supply constrained. If they can get more for their cores by selling them in the data center market, then they're not "leaving billions on the table" they're maximizing revenue and margins.

I also get the feeling that AMD is seeing all the negative feedback on "AI PCs" and would rather maximize their money in ways that don't tarnish their brand.

Maybe they're planning on releasing their AI chips in limited quantities as they see the writing on the wall.

 

[seeprime]

No doubt Intel and Qualcomm will be happy to take up the slack.

 

[redgarl]

Well, guess what, it is your own doing for accepting Intel's bribes for the last 30 years.

 

[redgarl]

I also get the feeling that AMD is seeing all the negative feedback on "AI PCs" and would rather maximize their money in ways that don't tarnish their brand.

Maybe they're planning on releasing their AI chips in limited quantities as they see the writing on the wall.

Client segment is stagnant and people are reluctant for buying new hardware. It makes sense to focus on datacenter and SOC.

 

[redgarl]

No doubt Intel and Qualcomm will be happy to take up the slack.

They will not, because they can't propose anything substantial.

 

[Bamda]

For uninformed, here you go:

Money, money, money, money (money)
Money, money, money, money (money)
Money, money, money, money (money)
Money, money, money, money (money)
Money, money, money, money (money)
Money, money, money, money (money)

Some people got to have it, yeah, yeah
Some people really need it, yeah

The O'Jays - For The Love of Money

 

[Eldrach]

AI market is booming. Right now there’s a gold rush. It’s not just AMD - Nvidia is also primarely a datacenter first - consumer gpu’s second now. It’s apparent as Nvidia is getting lazy with their releases, downgrading their midrange gpu for no good reason.
The 5080/5090 lineup will be stupidly expensive, especially now that they have 0 competition in the high end market.
The future isn’t great for gamers until the datacenter goldrush cools - which could take 3-4 more years at least

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Well, guess what, it is your own doing for accepting Intel's bribes for the last 30 years.

The bribes from 20 years ago don't justify further bad behavior today.

Client segment is stagnant and people are reluctant for buying new hardware. It makes sense to focus on datacenter and SOC.

That doesn't mean you drop communication or fail to ship orders.

I also get the feeling that AMD is seeing all the negative feedback on "AI PCs" and would rather maximize their money in ways that don't tarnish their brand.

Maybe they're planning on releasing their AI chips in limited quantities as they see the writing on the wall.

I feel it amore typical AMD. Even during the bribery days, there was demand for AMD desktop and laptop models, but there was a consistent problem with actually getting them in any reasonable capacity. Which led to AMD establishing GF to fix the supply issue and....yeah.

 

[dangh]

So, for 20+ years they were ignoring amd, and suddenly they love it ..

 

[Durch]

Serves them right after all these years of putting AMD in the lowest tier of products they offer.

Either let them continue to put subpar Intel chips in their products while AMD chips away at the server market or maybe they should reach out to ARM instead to keep competition in the market.

That should give Intel enough time to wake up from their slumber party and stop rebranding the same chip design as well as requiring a MB socket change every 2-3 years while claiming "innovation".

 

[trieste1s]

These laptop makers whine a lot, instead of promoting AMD laptops as superior in value, power-saving, speed and lightness at the major electronics chains. Here where I stay, I have to go out of my way to find these superior AMD laptops in a sea of mediocre Intel laptops. But whenever someone asks me to make a laptop purchase for them, I definitely end up going for the better deal: an AMD laptop.

 

[Felusy]

Nothing new here. In terms of laptop sales B2B, AMD is like sub 5% and Intel absolute crushes them in terms of sales. Lenovo alone, sells like 95% Intel based Laptops.

During COVID, AMD was not able to meet demand either. Intel was spitting out chips left and right at own fabs and delivered millions upon millions of chips to the enterprise sector.

Being fabless can be both good and bad you see.

 

[HardReset]

Nothing new here. In terms of laptop sales B2B, AMD is like sub 5% and Intel absolute crushes them in terms of sales. Lenovo alone, sells like 95% Intel based Laptops.

During COVID, AMD was not able to meet demand either. Intel was spitting out chips left and right at own fabs and delivered millions upon millions of chips to the enterprise sector.

Being fabless can be both good and bad you see.

Yeah right. Because Intel failed 10nm supertech, it was Intel that failed to deliver laptop chips because 14nm was short supply.

But yeah, manufacturers should stop crying. They were ones that refused to sell AMD laptops. Push comes to shove.

 

[Felusy]

Yeah right. Because Intel failed 10nm supertech, it was Intel that failed to deliver laptop chips because 14nm was short supply.

But yeah, manufacturers should stop crying. They were ones that refused to sell AMD laptops. Push comes to shove.

No-one is crying really and most enterprises still buy Intel laptops in abundance. I know, since I work with B2B sales.

Intel could deliver during COVID and lockdowns, AMD could not, because they relied 100% on TSMC to deliver, but they did not. Sad but true.

AMD lost the consumer GPU market, maybe they will loose the CPU market next, while chasing AI even tho Nvidia already won this market. Just like they dominate completely in gaming and enterprise market.

 

[seeprime]

They will not, because they can't propose anything substantial.

Intel is in far more laptops than AMD, at the moment. I still recommend AMD machines to customers since they run cooler and perform very well.

 

[HardReset]

No-one is crying really and most enterprises still buy Intel laptops in abundance. I know, since I work with B2B sales.

Intel could deliver during COVID and lockdowns, AMD could not, because they relied 100% on TSMC to deliver, but they did not. Sad but true.

AMD lost the consumer GPU market, maybe they will loose the CPU market next, while chasing AI even tho Nvidia already won this market. Just like they dominate completely in gaming and enterprise market.

During Covid AMD had also access to GlobalFoundries fabs too, so that's again BS. And once again, there are VERY few verified info about AMD "capacity problems" when looking back at history. Nothing nearly as bad as Intel has been suffering. Right now Intel has run out of Raptor Lake desktop CPUs. When Intel failed 10nm tech, Intel supply problems were worse than ALL AMD supply problems EVER combined. This "AMD not delivering" BS is mostly caused by fact that OEMs expect AMD to ship zillion CPUs on short notice when neglected years before that. Right now there are no ANY indication about AMD capacity problems, except COWOS that also affects Nvidia.

How AMD lost consumer GPU market? AMDs share is around same as Nvidias. Intel is faaar ahead both. Nvidia just got lucky with AI but it will change.

 

[toooooot]

Intel is in far more laptops than AMD, at the moment. I still recommend AMD machines to customers since they run cooler and perform very well.

They are a winner for cool budget laptops that can be gamed on with select CPUs.
A cheap cool laptop without a dedicated GPU devouring battery is a unique device
which is something AMD was able to offer for a while.
I only am surprise that laptop makers put these CPUs with a reasonably strong iGPUs in
laptops with mid to high end dedicated GPUs. What would possibly be the use of gaming iGPU
in a laptop with a vastly superior dedicated GPU? It is a waste of the cheap.
I wish I could hear from someone who picks the parts for laptops. To me, it does not make sense.

 

[zamroni111]

I think amd can use Samsung euv for ryzen io die and probably x3d cache die
so they can use their tsmc lot for laptop apu

 

[Felusy]

During Covid AMD had also access to GlobalFoundries fabs too, so that's again BS. And once again, there are VERY few verified info about AMD "capacity problems" when looking back at history. Nothing nearly as bad as Intel has been suffering. Right now Intel has run out of Raptor Lake desktop CPUs. When Intel failed 10nm tech, Intel supply problems were worse than ALL AMD supply problems EVER combined. This "AMD not delivering" BS is mostly caused by fact that OEMs expect AMD to ship zillion CPUs on short notice when neglected years before that. Right now there are no ANY indication about AMD capacity problems, except COWOS that also affects Nvidia.

How AMD lost consumer GPU market? AMDs share is around same as Nvidias. Intel is faaar ahead both. Nvidia just got lucky with AI but it will change.

You know nothing, I work with B2B and done for 20+ years. AMD never had much marketshare in laptop segment, and still don't. Especially true for Enterprise. We sell millions of laptops a year, 90% are Intel based because thats what companies demand. Far less issues in general. Go to Lenovo forum and watch AMD users complain about monitors blinking, LAN dropping and even crashing. Same is true for HP forums.

 

[HardReset]

You know nothing, I work with B2B and done for 20+ years. AMD never had much marketshare in laptop segment, and still don't. Especially true for Enterprise. We sell millions of laptops a year, 90% are Intel based because thats what companies demand. Far less issues in general. Go to Lenovo forum and watch AMD users complain about monitors blinking, LAN dropping and even crashing. Same is true for HP forums.

Where I said AMD had much market share on laptops? How about reading what I wrote.

Just like I said problem is not supply but what companies want. They don't want AMD does not mean AMD has supply problems. Monitor blinking is likely because laptop display connector is loose. AMD mobile chipsets rarely have LAN integrated so again, reason is something else than AMD. Crashing, because AMD CPU/APU is unstable? That just shows how ultimate *****s corporates are. If laptop sucks everywhere but CPU/APU is AMD, then reason must be AMD and all AMD CPU/APUs suck. No wonder AMD doesn't bother to do business with such morons.

 

[ioliveirafarias]

Okay, when theres bad hardware to buy at high prices. I used to buy a new guitar or try a new hobby instead of complain and buying.