SAN FRANCISCO – Shares of Advanced Micro Devices surged more than 7 percent Thursday after analysts said that Dell, the world’s largest maker of personal computers, was set to expand its use of chips from AMD.
When Dell reported second-quarter earnings Thursday, the company confirmed that it would expand the use of AMD chips.
Dell may produce as many as four million PCs with AMD chips in the fourth quarter, said John Lau, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in New York. That is about a third of the PCs Dell is expected to ship.
Lau said he based his forecast on his checks with Dell’s Taiwanese contractors.
The move follows Dell’s decision in May to use AMD chips in some computers, ending Intel’s run as Dell’s exclusive supplier.
Dell’s sales in the quarter just ended rose 4.3 percent, the slowest growth rate in four years. Rivals like Hewlett-Packard have taken customers by tapping demand for computers with AMD chips that were more efficient and sophisticated than Intel’s.
«Dell could use some good news, and adding AMD will be a positive,» said Cindy Shaw, an analyst at Moors & Cabot in San Francisco. «At the high end, AMD is better at graphics and gaming.»
Dell does not comment on future products, a spokesman, Bob Pearson, said. «Dell continues to believe we will end the year with the best and broadest product line in our history,» he said.
A spokesman for AMD, John Taylor, declined to comment, as did an Intel spokesman, Bill Calder.
Shares of AMD gained $1.63, or 7.2 percent to close at $24.20 Thursday, continuing a strong advance during the week. Even with that rise, AMD shares are down 20.9 percent this year.
AMD shares had fallen sharply since it announced in July a $5.4 billion acquisition of ATI, the maker of graphics chips.
«It’s more a question of when, not if,» Dell starts using Advanced Micro chips in more widely sold desktop and notebook PCs, said Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research in San Francisco. «I do hear from my sources in Asia that the manufacturing is going on.»
Dell used its first AMD chip, called the Opteron, in server computers, high- powered machines that run Web sites and corporate networks.
Dell probably will provide details on its products based on Advanced Micro chips at a meeting for analysts and reporters in New York on Sept. 12, Wu said. He said he expected Dell to begin shipping the PCs in September or October.
Fuente: International Herald Tribune, con información de Bloomberg News
