[Motley Fool] 3 Reasons AMD is Falling Apart Before Our Eyes

[5150Joker]

So Motley Fool has an article about AMD falling apart and they rattle off some reasons they think so:

1. R&D expenditures cut while the company keeps losing money.

2. Employees are overworked and underpaid. They note, "One engineer who claims to have worked as a graphics software engineer says he/she left to work for a competitor -- and got a full 44% compensation increase."

3. Executive turnovers.

Article: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/03/21/3-reasons-amd-is-falling-apart-before-our-eyes.aspx


Personally I think most of the reasons listed are too broad and don't take into account upcoming product launches that could possibly help AMD regain some share and income. However, there may be some merit to some of the things they mention. The second point about employees being disgruntled and leaving for a "competitor" (guessing NVIDIA) and being given 44% compensation increases should raise eyebrows. Poaching employees isn't illegal as far as I know so if NVIDIA does poach AMD's best talent then they may end up in bigger trouble than they already are, especially since graphics engineers are pretty rare as it is.

Also of concern should be AMD's shrinking R&D budget, it does limit their competitiveness in the long term. So when you have a combination of shrinking budget, underpaid and overworked employees that are being poached, layoffs and losses each quarter, it makes for a very scary and bleak picture. If their new APU and GPU launches don't pan out with significant returns, it could result in even deeper cuts and layoffs. I think we all recognize how much Fiji and derivatives mean for AMD this year, it could literally make or break them depending on how NVIDIA reacts.

 

[raghu78]

OP that is a rubbish article by none other than Ashraf Eassa. He loves Intel/Nvidia and cannot stop writing such trash about AMD. Nothing new from what he has done in the past. :thumbsdown:

here is another trash article when he was writing at SeekingAlpha, incidentally his last article at SeekingAlpha . He was probably booted out for the rubbish he spewed.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2099473-amd-looks-finished
http://seekingalpha.com/author/ashraf-eassa/articles

 

[wand3r3r]

So Motley Fool has an article about AMD falling apart and they rattle off some reasons they think so:

1. R&D expenditures cut while the company keeps losing money.

2. Employees are overworked and underpaid. They note, " 'One engineer who claims to have worked as a graphics software engineer says he/she left to work for a competitor -- and got a "full 44% compensation increase.' "

3. Executive turnovers.

Article: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/03/21/3-reasons-amd-is-falling-apart-before-our-eyes.aspx


Personally I think most of the reasons listed are too broad and don't take into account upcoming product launches that could possibly help AMD regain some share and income. However, there may be some merit to some of the things they mention. The second point about employees being disgruntled and leaving for a "competitor" (guessing NVIDIA) and being given 44% compensation increases should raise eyebrows. Poaching employees isn't illegal as far as I know so if NVIDIA does poach AMD's best talent then they may end up in bigger trouble than they already are, especially since graphics engineers are pretty rare as it is. Also of concern should be AMD's shrinking R&D budget, it does limit their competitiveness in the long term.

What a worthless clickbait article.

1. Is the only point that might be valid.

The second point is 100% bs as it is stated.

Anyone with experience in the corporate world can tell you that job hopping is the quickest way up the pay ladder. Without details it's purely conjecture. It could be easily someone who joined as junior and left as a senior. Without knowing anything it's just FUD.

3. could be relevant, but again they can be restructuring and sometimes change is needed. It's not necessarily a negative though so the article just needed more so called "issues".

That article was just a blog, and at the end you come across the proof that it's just an investor trying to raise their stock.

Ashraf Eassa owns shares of Intel. The Motley Fool recommends Intel.

I'm sure the article was objective.

 

[Gikaseixas]

In order to poach you have to offer a substantial incentive. The corporation I work for is the biggest in our area of expertise and competitors sometimes offer 50-60% over what people here earn in order to lure them.

Ashraf Eassa is a great motivator for those who share his passion and sentiments. More power to you OP

 

[5150Joker]

OP that is a rubbish article by none other than Ashraf Eassa. He loves Intel/Nvidia and cannot stop writing such trash about AMD. Nothing new from what he has done in the past. :thumbsdown:

here is another trash article when he was writing at SeekingAlpha, incidentally his last article at SeekingAlpha . He was probably booted out for the rubbish he spewed.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2099473-amd-looks-finished
http://seekingalpha.com/author/ashraf-eassa/articles

Haha wow, it does seem like he has an axe to grind with AMD. Part of it could be financially motivated but in some of those articles the points he makes are pretty jarring.

 

[DarkKnightDude]

44% compensation increases raises eyebrows? That's nothing. Its quite common to see 60-80% compensation in this industry. EDIT: Beaten.

I can probably cherrypick Glassdoor reviews as well for every company.

 

[3DVagabond]

I've always wondered why it's OK to post threads that have absolutely nothing to do with either video cards or graphics, just because the company makes them.

Notice not a single reference in the article other than hearsay and conjecture. Zero evidence that what is stated is anything but made up.

 

[5150Joker]

In order to poach you have to offer a substantial incentive. The corporation I work for is the biggest in our area of expertise and competitors sometimes offer 50-60% over what people here earn in order to lure them.

Ashraf Eassa is a great motivator for those who share his passion and sentiments. More power to you OP

The amount of compensation isn't as much concern as the ability to reciprocate. Meaning, how often will top engineering talent from NVIDIA leave to join AMD's graphics division? I'd wager much less than the other way around.

 

[desprado]

The amount of compensation isn't as much concern as the ability to reciprocate. Meaning, how often will top talent from NVIDIA leave to join AMD's graphics division? I'd wager much less than the other way around.

One name i know is Roy he worked in Nvidia for more than 12 years IMO than he left and join AMD.

 

[Techhog]

Can we please just have a general "AMD gon die in 3 minutes" thread instead of having threads about editorials?

 

[Erenhardt]

Can we all have our own troll thread now?

 

[myocardia]

Can we please just have a general "AMD gon die in 3 minutes" thread instead of having threads about editorials?

AMD died three years ago. Didn't you read the threads predicting it?

 

[Techhog]

Can we all have our own troll thread now?

Sorry, but I came here to talk about graphics cards, not predictions of AMD's demise by Intel stockholders. This thread is barely even appropriate for this forum. Also, people are always talking about how company X is going to go bankrupt at any minute, yet it's often wrong and either happens many years later or not at all. Still waiting for BlackBerry, Nintendo, and Sony to die...

 

[Cloudfire777]

That #1 is probably the reason why they are pushing out almost entirely rebrands in the 300 series. The low and midrange cards are their bread and butter.
Not to mention why Nvidia got like the entire market alone with Maxwell. Its sad.

If AMD is bleeding now, gonna be interesting to see how the market respond and see AMD once 300 rebrand series is introduced. Stocks will drop like crazy. Well, 390X/390 will make up a little for it, but they wont reclaim their market share they had 3 years ago. Not a chance in hell with these rebrands

I will most likely do my part and buy 390X if its a good card with a good cooling, but I know those who buy the top end cards only make up like 5% of AMDs potential customer base

 

[Udgnim]

guy owns Intel stock

http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFAeassa/info.aspx

"Stocks I Own: INTC, QCOM, INVN, IBM"

 

[postmortemIA]

and perhaps shorts AMD

AMD is not going anywhere. Thy might be only chip maker that operates at loss, but lets just say XBOX, PS4 and WiiU

 

[Arkadrel]

AMD is makeing the next Nintendo consol, XB1/PS4/WiiU are still selling.
AMD + Mediatek for tablet/smartphones (could be big).
AMD scored a contract for facebook semi-custom server chips (could be big).

I think there was something about the chinese wanting some semi custom chips too?

Then theres the fact that AMD survived long enough to see new memory techology come out, that will greatly help APU performance.
It could mean we ll finally see APUs grow in performance (without being limited by memory).

Id say the near future, is looking better than it has for along time for amd.
I wouldnt say its falling apart.

 

[sontin]

Most schocking is that AMD doesnt have an answer for GM107. This chip is over a year old and still much better than anything on the market for notebook user. And now we have rumours that AMD is rebranding nearly every mid- to lowend cards again...

 

[geoxile]

Most schocking is that AMD doesnt have an answer for GM107. This chip is over a year old and still much better than anything on the market for notebook user. And now we have rumours that AMD is rebranding nearly every mid- to lowend cards again...

I'm guessing they'll wait until 2016 or whenever Raja Koduri's work is done on a new architecture. GCN generations have been relatively small iterations adding new auxiliary features without making big changes to the microarchitecture.

 

[el etro]

Poor written article. Seems to be FUD spreading only.

 

[AnandThenMan]

Seems to be FUD spreading only.

Same author consistently writes garbage articles like this it's really pathetic.

 

[Abwx]

Seems that Ashraf like to sink low from time to time, it s not like i didnt warn him that there was no possible growth in Intel stock.

The guy invest in a bearish thing and then try to desesperatly prop up this future junk bond with void filled ballons articles as a mean to lure the unsuspecting investors wanabees, i guess that the stock is on the verge to break the critical 30$ line, be prepared for even more fud in the coming weeks...

 

[soccerballtux]

on more than two occasions Motley Fool has disappointed me.

 

[Annisman*]

Let's all pray AMD stays alive and well, or we'll be paying 5,000 USD for our future Titans

 

[chimaxi83]

What a mindless article, author, and website. Not surprised though, OP.