"At AMD we are privileged and I think we have the opportunity this year, 2003, to lead the industry to 64 bit computing. Not only on the server side but also on the desktop and consumer equipment."
AMD CEO Hector Ruiz. For consumers, the question is why buy a computer with a 64 bit processor... when there is not likely to be much software able to take advantage of that capability? The hope at AMD is companies and consumers will want to invest for the future... and a key feature of the new chip is its backward compatibility...
"Which allows people that have made huge investments in application software to continue those while they migrate to 64 bit."
AMD, which has been losing money in its battle to compete with Intel, has said it expects to break even in the second quarter of this year...
"Assuming the reasonable market conditions that we expect this year, definitely." Are you seeing reasonable market conditions starting to develop? "Two weeks or three weeks into the year, frankly it's sort of early to tell. We're positioned in segments that we did not participate before like wireless for flash and enterprise for computing and our mobile road map is getting stronger. So we're optimistic but frankly I don't think it will be until March before we really see how the first quarter is shaping up which will tell us more about the second quarter."
AMD CEO Hector Ruiz. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.