Why Apple Should Acquire AMD

And is Apple even capable of making a bid on AMD?

Personally, I always thought Sun should acquire Apple, and put them out of my misery...

AMD is having difficulties? They just aquired ATI, the #1 graphics chip maker out there and their having difficulties? Crack smoking much?

> And is Apple even capable of making a bid on AMD?

From Google, AMD has a market cap of $7.49 billion, while Apple has a market cap of $86.81 billion. So I'd say yes, if Apple wanted to buy AMD they could probably do so.

Doesn't Apple have shareholders who decide about that? After ABN-AMRO tried selling LaSalle (without asking approval from the shareholders), shareholders were angry and say ABN shouldn't have done this without asking the shareholders first; which basically means a company can't do any big buy / sale without the shareholders.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6598387.stm (start reading at the paragraph "The arguments at the shareholders' meeting centred on ABN Amro's decision to sell its US unit LaSalle to Bank of America for $21bn (£10.6bn)" next to the picture of LaSalle)

BTW does this article make other people remember the earlier article "Why Microsoft should acquire Linux"?

Quoting:However, Apple could drop Intel altogether and adopt AMD for its Macintosh PCs.

Gottabe kidding! It is said, though not confirmed, IBM was glad it got rid of Apple, because Apple demanded a lot compared to the amount of proc's it buyed. Apple deciding on AMD's strategy won't be good for AMD, and Apple doesn't know s**t about litography, cleanrooms etc. In my opinion, it would be far more logical if IBM were to buy AMD, if AMD were to be bought at all, but that's just my humble opinion.

So indeed, just the wet dream of an Apple fanboi.

> far more logical if IBM were to buy AMD

Considering that IBM already produces a very good chip of its own, yet appears not to want to compete for the market (for whatever reasons), I really don't see that scenario either.

> Doesn't Apple have shareholders who decide about that?

Yes. Both Apple and AMD shareholders would have to approve such a deal.

Added: However, it normally the case that the board, CEO, and other corporate insiders hold enough stock to carry the vote. The only recent merger I know of which was almost voted down was the HP/Compaq deal, and from memory that's because one of the founding families of HP opposed it. The remaining board and CEO still managed to outvote them.

Yes, brilliant. AMD can't gain market share. I'm sure that being purchased by a company that competes with AMD's customers is going to do wonders for their market share.

Goodness gracious -- Has this person not heard of free markets?

Sure, AMD is having trouble right now.

So what?

Just about EVERY big company goes through ups and downs. Some don't survive the downs, but most do.

People thought IBM might go under in the 90s. Remember Apple? Oh wait, you don't have to! They're still around.

AMD could go under, but AMD could also bounce back and do fine. They have talent and they have products. Intel has leap-frogged them at the moment, but that is the nature of many markets: One company goes ahead, another plays catch-up until IT goes ahead.

> Has this person not heard of free markets?

As I recall, this is the guy who posted a while back that Microsoft should buy Linux. Not really FUD. Just something to make you scratch your head a little bit.