November 11th, 2004
InfoWorld: Rollins reiterates AMD's role in Dell's future
For the second time in a week, Dell CEO Kevin Rollins has gone on record as saying that the company will very likely offer AMD-based products. Last week, at Forrester Research’s Executive Strategy Forum, Rollins said "We believe there will come a time when we use AMD products, too." Then yesterday, in an interview with InfoWorld editors, Rollins said "My guess is we’re going to want to add that [AMD] product line in the future."
Rollins’ comments come in stark contrast to statements he made just two weeks ago. In an interview with News.com editors, Rollins characterized a Dell/AMD deal as a non-starter saying "Could I do it? Yeah, but why?" So, what happened in the last two weeks that might have led to Dell’s change of heart?
Suggesting that concerns regarding production capacity were an issue for Dell when it came to AMD for desktop systems, Dell spokesperson Wendy Giever told me that "AMD’s lack of fab capacity is a big deal." However, this week, AMD added significant capacity to its chip production capacity when it enlisted Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing for help. Chartered will ramp-up a plant in Singapore for AMD chip production by the end of 2004. Meanwhile, AMD already has another fab — known as Fab 36 — under construction in Dresden, Germany. Despite the way Rollins made it look as though AMD is a sure bet for Dell, Giever emphasized that currently, there are no AMD-based products anywhere on Dell’s roadmap. "There is no plan," said Giever. "And if there is one, it most definitely won’t be on desktops. Just servers."
