PC市场要自救，AMD Inside替代Intel Inside是唯一出路？

多年来因为AMD产品性能不佳而被苹果挡在门外；现在，要保证高利润降低Mac的售价需要削减成本，涉及到处理器部分，继续采用英特尔和Nvidia的产品显然不可能做到；而以AMD目前的处境，为了能取代Nvidia进入Mac供应链，它一定会非常配合苹果；AMD的定制半导体业务保证其有极高的配合度；AMD的技术已经大幅提升，随着明年新架构的推出，对苹果和AMD而言将是双赢的。

Summary

AMD has been shunned by Apple for years due to its inferior performance. Maintaining high margins while lowering Mac prices requires cost cutting, and when it comes to processors, Intel and Nvidia aren’t very cooperative. AMD, given its situation, has been very cooperative, and has allowed itself to replace Nvidia in many Mac products; AMD's semi-custom business will make it even more cooperative. AMD's technology has improved dramatically, and with a compelling new architecture arriving late next year, it could be a win-win for both Apple and AMD.

Introduction

When Steve Jobs was around, Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) vision was very clearly to make the greatest products in the world, almost regardless of price. This was also when the Mac was out of the reach of the average consumer, but after several price reductions over the years, the Mac has now become much more affordable for the average consumer.

Apple's continued price drops will undoubtedly entice more Mac users, but it could be at the cost of its attractive margins if it continues to use Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) processors. One plausible solution is to replace Intel's x86 chips with Apple's own ARM (NASDAQ:ARMH) processors, but through a complex transition. Another solution is to replace Intel's costly x86 processors with AMD's (NASDAQ:AMD) much more affordable x86 processors; of course, this would be with AMD's late 2016 Zen product, which is a ground-up architecture that many people believe will be AMD's saving grace and a great competitor to Intel's chips.

Apple has already begun to grasp the cost-benefits that AMD has provided by replacing much of its expensive Nvidia graphics chips with AMD's just-as-effective, much more affordable graphics solutions. Such solutions include the Mac Pro, 5K iMac, and 15" MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Additionally, AMD has a very good graphics API, and the best way to utilize this API with the greatest cost savings is to copy what Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Sony (NYSE:SNE) did with the Xbox One and PS4 gaming consoles. These companies asked AMD to create a very customized CPU+GPU processing solution that would be both powerful, cost-effective, and efficient since all of the processing is on a single die. Thanks to this, Sony debuted a gaming console far cheaper than the previous generation, while actually generating a profit instead of an enormous loss. Intel's graphics are far inferior to AMD's, and separately using Intel's CPU technology and Nvidia's GPU technology was just far too costly for Sony and Microsoft, and so AMD was the perfect choice.

If AMD were to utilize a successful Zen chip, tied with technologies like High-Bandwidth Memory and Heterogenous System Architecture in a customized chip solution for Apple, it would be a win-win for the two companies. Apple would be able to continue to make top-tier products, but at much more affordable pricing, and AMD would restore its reputation and generate meaningful income for investors, who suffer with a stock near an all-time low.

AMD's Radeon graphics enter the Mac

Two years ago, Apple finally accepted AMD's products, mostly tha