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AMD has been a household name for as long as we can remember, but just a few years ago the company’s impact on the market place was dwindling and it was in danger of becoming a shadow of its former self. However after shaking things up, the company enjoyed a stellar 2017 and has started this year in the same vein.
As Neil Spicer, EMEA Component Channel Sales director, explains, the last year has been a ‘huge step’ towards making AMD an industry leader.
“Last year we took a huge step on our journey to high-performance computing leadership with the launch of our Ryzen 7 processors in March,” he said. “Since then we have delivered 20+ Ryzen processors to meet the needs of the Channel and modern PC users. We’ve disrupted the market at every competitive price point by providing consumers more performance, more features, and more choice. We’ve been consistent in delivering the very best to the Channel and brought back innovation to the industry.”
He adds: “We shipped millions of Ryzen processors in the last few quarters of 2017 and we saw great acceptance of Ryzen processors in the EMEA region among gamers and enthusiasts. Ryzen Threadripper is doing extremely well and growing our share in the highest-end portion of the enthusiast market where we have not had an offering in recent years.”AMD
A true example of how rethinking things and taking risks is what this industry needs, AMD’s resurgence culminated in being crowned PCR’s Company of the Year. The only gong to be awarded by the editorial staff, AMD’s ability to turn things around rather than shy away from the challenge was a large reason behind the decision.
“We’re thrilled and thankful for the overwhelming positive response we’ve received from the PCR editorial team that have recognised our efforts to continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible for developers, enthusiasts, consumers and businesses,” Spicer said. “The awards play an important role within the UK PC and tech community, enabling resellers, retailers, vendors, and other members of the industry to network as well as celebrate the achievements of those in our industry for the past 12 months.”
As successful as AMD’s last year has been, the change in fortunes is no fluke and neither has it happened overnight. In fact, it has been a steady rise that stretches back to a business strategy put in place some three years ago. The overwhelming success of the company’s Ryzen processor line over the past 12 months may have come as a surprise to many but as Spicer explains it is the rewards of a carefully thought out strategy.
“Three years ago, we set out a strategic plan to re-shape AMD to become a high-performance computing leader through great products, deep customer relationships and a simplified and focused business strategy,” Spicer says. “Our 2017 product momentum has been strong but we have not yet seen the full impact of those products in the market. As much progress as we have made over the past three years, we really believe we are only at the beginning.”
And while many could forgive AMD for riding on the wave of its own success, Spicer explains that nobody is taking anything for granted. In fact, the firm has a lot more planned and is confident that 2018 will prove to be just as successful – if not more so – than the year that has just gone.
“As much as we’ve accomplished so far in the past year, we’re only just getting started,” Spicer adds. “We’ve just launched our AMD Ryzen Desktop processors with Radeon Vega Graphics including the Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G. In April we’ll be launching our Ryzen 2nd Generation range of processors and are excited to show the new features. I can’t reveal too much about what’s in store for 2018 but we can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on.”
He continues: “While our 2017 product momentum has been strong, we have not yet seen the full impact of those products in the market. We believe the market is moving towards the high-performance technologies we are developing at AMD. There is a clear demand, and a growing need, for higher levels of computing and graphics performance to power workloads across a variety
of industries.
“We see that the world’s toughest applications – whether in high performance computing, machine learning or artificial intelligence – all require a mixture of CPUs, GPUs and other accelerator technologies regardles of if they are integrated on a chip, a multi-chip module or integrated into a system solution. AMD is uniquely able to bring these mixed technologies together and we are collaborating intensely with customers to make these solutions a reality. For this reason, we believe we are only at the beginning of the AMD story.
“As much fun as the last three years have been, it’s an incredibly exciting time for us and we are really looking forward to what we can deliver over the next three years and beyond.”
