At this week's financial analyst meeting, AMD unveiled a 16-core, 32-thread desktop processor called Ryzen Threadripper—its new Epyc brand for server chips—and introduced its first graphics board aimed at the machine learning market.
But I was also glad to see the company unveil a roadmap of successive generations in its CPU, GPU, and server lines, with migration to 7nm and 7nm+ process nodes through 2020, which is crucial for the firm to regain credibility with business buyers. At this point, competitors Intel and Nvidia dominate their markets, particularly on the server side, and business buyers need to be convinced that AMD will be a long-term player in order for it to land on the consideration list.
"Immersive and instinctive computing will transform all of our daily lives," AMD CEO Lisa Su said at the conference when defining the company's vision for the future. Immersive computing with high-end graphics is all around us, but instinctive computing—which involves using huge amounts of data and machine learning algorithms—is just beginning to evolve. All of this requires "high-performance computing," she said, a term she used to describe all sorts of high-end computing and graphics, not just the HPC or supercomputing market.
Su talked at length about investing for "multi-generational leadership" in x86 CPUs, graphics for both PCs and integrated, and software—a big change for a company whose primary products have targeted the mainstream or low-end markets. AMD will now focus on premium products, she said, and noted that while the mainstream accounts for most of its units, the premium part of the market accounts for most of its revenue and profits.
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