In the last two years we have seen how big technology companies have cut their workforce. Until relatively recently, both Intel and AMD had been spared. The first to do so was Intel, which announced the dismissal of more than 15,000 employees aimed at regaining profitability, after announcing million-dollar losses.
Next on the list is AMD. Despite the fact that this veteran manufacturer of processors and graphics cards has become an excellent alternative to Intel for many companies and individuals, cutting a lot of market share. In the field of graphics, it cannot fight NVIDIA and last August it announced that it was temporarily forgetting about high-performance graphics for home users.
Layoffs at AMD
The company has officially confirmed the rumors that had been circulating for several days, which pointed to a round of layoffs of this technology through different forums. The workforce that will be affected by this manufacturer is 4% of the 26,000 employees it has. According to AMD, “the layoffs are part of aligning its resources with greater growth opportunities.”
Once again, the company’s excuse for laying off part of its workers is found in the economic results, specifically of the graphics division, which it has just presented and which correspond to the third quarter of 2024. This is the reason that has led AMD to abandon the high-end graphics market. According to the earnings report, the company’s revenue game division of AMD have fallen 69% to 462 million, with a year-on-year drop in revenue of 94%.
If we leave aside the graphics division, we see how AMD has experienced a 17% growth in revenue and an increase in profits by 34%However, the expectations of neither the company nor the analysts have not been met.
As is usually the case, when growth forecasts are not met, this is associated with a drop in the value of the shares as we already saw with Intel, although in this case, the price of the shares actions is down less than 3%.
No range graphs on the horizon
With these figures on the table, AMD’s decision not to launch the RX 8800 and RX 8900 models of its next generation of graphics cards will not help improve the economic situation of this division. Although it is true that the high end graphics They are not sold in the same numbers as the mid-range, it seems that AMD is still not very clear about how to improve its development to offer similar performance as its maximum rival.
As stated by the company during the presentation of the financial results corresponding to the last quarter, AMD is focusing on expanding its presence in the computing industry. Artificial intelligence making strategic purchases (a much faster method than starting from scratch) and through its range of accelerators, the AMD Instinct MI300.
Precisely, the server processor division, EPYC, has experienced operational growth of 29% (with a year-on-year increase of 122%), while the Ryzen processor division for home users has risen 15% (an increase of 29%). % year-on-year), so it is normal that it continues to invest more in this segment than in graphics.
