Dell Says AMD a “Possibility” — Analyst Agrees

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Last week, following the introduction of the Dell Renegade, Michael Dell made a statement which was the closest Dell has ever come to offering AMD CPUs in its PCs … he said “”It’s a distinct possibility,” when asked about AMD inside instead of Intel Inside. I figured it was another case of false hope. However, today, Piper Jaffrey analyst Les Santiago predicted that Dell would start shipping PCs with AMD CPUs in 2006.

“We strongly believe that Dell will start AMD-based system shipments as early as (the second half of 2006),” Santiago wrote in a report. He based his view on conversations with unnamed sources in the PC component supply industry, press reports indicating Asian designers are working on AMD-based systems for Dell, AMD inventory shortages suggesting Dell is purchasing the chips and other factors.

Santiago also wrote in the report: “Our conversations further indicate that Dell’s sales force is demanding Opteron-based server offerings to be able to better compete in the market.” Source: News.com

We Say: Remember last November when it appeared Dell was selling AMD CPUs on its site? Well, nothing really happened after that story, but the word “possibility” is the strongest word Dell has ever used in this regard. The gamer in me can’t help but drool over the thought. Honestly, with AMD outselling Intel at retail, if this were to come to pass … well, I can see why AMD stock jumped today while Intel was down.