AMD Buying ATI--Big Groan!

We don't see how this can be good news for Mac users. The only graphics company to build third party graphics cards for the Mac, ATI Technologies, is being bought by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for $5.4 billion, according to CNet. As most of you probably know, AMD is the arch (only?) rival of Intel, the new supplier of Apple's Core Duo CPUs, and it has no Mac experience.

ATI's Radeon X1600 graphics are in the current iMac Core Duo and MacBook Pro and its graphics have been dominant on Mac platforms over the years. Yes, Nvidia's graphics have also been in Macs recently but as OEM graphics built by Apple, not as third party after-market cards, and rarely as the top dog--the GeForce3 and GeForce 6800 Ultra are exceptions when introduced. More often than not, the best graphics card available for the Mac has been built by ATI. Moreover, the only third party after-market graphics available specifically for the Mac, i.e. without hacks, have been built by ATI.

We certainly can't fault AMD for buying ATI. It looks like a terrific move to us--for AMD. But we don't see how this is a positive event for Mac users. Sure, there may be no immediate issues but a longer term commitment may run against the strategic logic of the purchase. AMD is fighting for its life against Intel and it needs the ability to produce an integrated CPU/graphics environment to stay alive and possibly thrive. We don't see a line of Mac graphics cards helping with this battle, only tying up needed resources. We hope we're dead wrong. [Bill Fox]