PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
2014 was a disappointing year for AMD.
The chip vendor made a loss of $330 million in Q4 and an overall operating loss of $155 million throughout the year.
Q4 revenue dipped 22 per cent to $1.24 billion year-on-year, while 2014 revenue rose four per cent to $5.51 billion.
AMD’s Computing and Graphics segment, which includes desktop and notebook processors, chipsets, GPUs and professional graphics, made a $76 million operating loss in 2014.
AMD said the dip was driven by lower desktop processor and chipset sales, and lower channel sales, partially offset by lower operating expenses.
However, the firm’s Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom sales increased 51 per cent year-on-year to generate operating income of $399 million. AMD said this was primarily driven by increased sales of semi-custom SoCs.
In the ‘all other’ category, AMD made an operating loss of $478.83 million, mainly due to a $233 million goodwill impairment charge, $71 million restructuring and other special charges and a $58 million market inventory adjustment.
AMD spoke highly of its upcoming Carrizo APU, however, and said it will be its ‘most advanced APU ever’ when it comes to market in the first half of 2015.
"We made progress diversifying our business, ramping design wins and improving our balance sheet this past year despite challenges in our PC business," said Dr. Lisa Su, AMD president and CEO.
"Annual Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom segment revenue increased over 50 per cent as customer demand for products powered by our high-performance compute and rich visualization solutions was strong.
"We continue to address channel headwinds in the Computing and Graphics segment and are taking steps to return it to a healthy trajectory beginning in the second quarter of 2015."
