As part of what AMD calls its 'disruptive server strategy', the firm has purchased micro-server maker, SeaMicro, for the grand total of £210 million.
Why was this such a 'clever' move you may ask? Aside from pushing forwards with AMD's Cloud computing agenda, allowing the firm to break into the market, not only as a supplier of components but of complete systems, SeaMicro was a big promoter of Intel products, offering cluster designs featuring Sandy Bridge and Atom processors, with some of the firm's server designs capable of accommodating up to 786 Atoms.
In a single purchase, AMD has not only equipped itself as a server system OEM but dealt a blow to the competition, Intel, at the same time. The micro-server market is expected to boom and is forecast to capture 10 per cent of the total server market by 2015 and, SeaMicro was, until now, Intel's primary partner in the emerging market segment.
"We are accelerating AMD's transformation into an agile, disruptive innovator capable of staking a data centre leadership position," stated AMD CEO Rory Read, "The unmatched combination of AMD's processing capabilities, SeaMicro's system and fabric technology, and our ambidextrous technology approach uniquely positions AMD with a compelling, differentiated position to attack the fastest growing segment of the server market."
Whilst it's expected that SeaMicro servers will continue to offer up ARM and MIPS based offerings in the future, Intel is off the table, with AMD looking to equip servers with Opteron processors sometime this year. Let's hope that AMD hasn't dug its own grave, avoiding any backlash from Intel and its giant asset purchasing pockets.
