AMD Q1 shows steady improvement, 28nm readiness, heavy competition

April 24, 2012 — AMD (NYSE:AMD) announced Q1 2012 revenue of $1.59 billion, a net loss of $590 million and operating loss of $580 million. Non-GAAP net income was $92 million and non-GAAP operating income was $138 million.

First quarter non-GAAP net income excludes: the previously disclosed charge of $703 million for a limited waiver of exclusivity of certain 28nm APU products from GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. related to the 2012 Amendment to the Wafer Supply Agreement; amortization of acquired intangible assets of $1 million; a restructuring charge of $8 million; SeaMicro, Inc. (SeaMicro) acquisition costs of $6 million, and a tax benefit related to the SeaMicro acquisition of $36 million.

Also read: AMD outlines SOC-centric strategy

Analysts’ take:

AMD is executing well (yields from GLOBALFOUNDRIES are improving, AMD has solid traction with its Llano/Bulldozer chips), Barclays Capital sees continued long-term risk to AMD’s business model, where Intel would maintain its leadership in servers with Romley and Ultrabooks, with added pressure in the low-end sector from ARM. AMD may need to lower average selling prices (ASPs) to compete.

FBR Capital Markets sees “a marked improvement from the AMD of old.” The firm continues to see more 32nm Llano output, though disappointingly processor ASPs fell sequentially and were flattish year-over-year (Y/Y), worse than FBR would have expected. GPU shipments were flat sequentially and fell 7% Y/Y (versus a 14-week 1Q11). However, AMD management sounded upbeat on future launches, said Deutsche Bank analysts.

AMD’s decent Q1 numbers and Q2 guidance are “indicative of a rebound in PC builds as hard drives become more available,” said MKM Partners analyst Daniel Berenbaum.

FBR notes that AMD said it was able to meet all its customer commitments for 28 nm GPU products, but still wants more capacity to maximize upside going forward.

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