AMD cuts to the core with 'Bulldozer' Opterons

[qurious63ss]

When paying by the wafer vs. buying a fab, by the wafer is higher. However, unless you are running at 100% capacity, you have high sunk costs that can be harder to recoup.

The question is do you believe there is better flexibility in higher fixed costs or higher variable costs. Believe it or not, especially in today's crazy market, there is more flexibility in a variable cost model. Just look at how much debt AMD was able to buy down - FAB = debt and debt chokes off profit. I'd rather hold the cash and direct it at more wafers if I need it.

I agree that variable cost is a good thing, but do you agree that giving up manufacturing of your products, especially one that relies on leading edge tech like processors, has some negative impacts since you loose control of the process and are relying on another company to stay on schedule all this while they are looking out for their best interest before yours. Lets put it this way if the cost to fab in house was the same as to foundry which would you go with? The way I see it, it's a gamble that all boils down to money. You are willing to give up the process in order to save money, while Intel is willing to spend the money in order to control the process. I see no problem with your model when it involves low margin product like flash, chipsets etc. but when it involves processors I would definitely want control of the process to synch with my products.