AMD 'leaving billions of dollars on the table' thanks to laptop AI chip supply issues
Multiple reports are claiming AMD has comprehensively dropped the ball with its new Ryzen AI chips for laptops (via TechSpot). Abazovic Consultancy Analysis (ACA) reports that AMD has «lost the trust» of laptop makers due to chip shortages, while ComputerBase claims to have been told AMD has left «billions of US dollars on the table» thanks to its missteps in supplying manufacturers.
ACA says that the problem stems from AMD's decision to shift its focus and manufacturing volumes away from client chips, including laptop APUs like the new Ryzen AI 300 family, and towards more lucrative enterprise CPUs and GPUs. It's certainly true that AMD's CEO Lisa Su recently declared that AMD is now a «data center-first» company.
The ACA report contrasts apparently very limited availability of laptops based on the new Ryzen AI APU, codenamed Strix Point, with the success of Qualcomm and its new Snapdragon X chip, noting that Qualcomm bagged seven big OEM laptop makers for the launch of Snapdragon X while AMD could only muster three.
Meanwhile, a report on ComputerBase traces AMD's problems back a little further and says that AMD's existing Ryzen AI chips can only be had in «premium» devices. It claims to have been told that notebook makers have «no prospect of quickly obtaining many chips from AMD,» a situation that perpetuates «a persistent problem that has been known for a decade now.»
The net result? One laptop maker reportedly told ComputerBase that AMD has «left billions of US dollars on the table» with its many partners over the years. ComputerBase quotes sales figures showing that AMD has gained laptop market share in the last 18 months or so. But the gains from around 16% to 20 % over that period arguably are not dramatic.
That could change when AMD releases its new lower-cost Ryzen AI chip, codenamed Kraken Point, next year. It's essentially the same architecture as Strix Point, but reduces the CPU core count from 12 to eight and the graphics CUs from 16 to eight.
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