The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: <_ALACRA_META_ABSTRACT>So speaking of last year, we sat here a year ago and chatted on market share and how you have come from a place both on the PC
side and the server side, where it was really a second-source story coming from the bottom kind of to moving to parity and in some
instances, to leadership. So can you talk about that journey? And really from here, where are the aspirations focused on across those
businesses?
Jean Hu - Advanced Micro Devices Inc - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President, Treasurer
Yeah, I appreciate the question. We are very pleased with our performance in both the server side and also on the PC side, as you
know, in the server CPU market starting from like a very low-single-digit market share a few years ago to now last Q3, we reported
the earnings, we got to 34% of the market this year. So it has been tremendous. I think when you look at that success, first thing is
AMD is always focused on product -- innovative product, generation by generation.
So when you look at the server side from first-generation Naple until each generation now at the Genoa and Bergamo fourth-generation
family, we got a tremendous TCO performance not only performance per watt, but the performance per dollar.
And now, we launched Gen 5, which is the Turin family product will continue to drive the leadership performance. So technology-wise,
it's about the leadership of not only architecture, process technology, chiplet and also packaging technology. But also if you look at
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DECEMBER 12, 2024 / 7:00PM, AMD.OQ - Advanced Micro Devices Inc at Barclays Global Technology Conference
the team's history, it's always about consistent execution. So each generation of road map we delivered on time with the leading
performance.
Third thing I would say is our team is really good to work with the customer closely. So not only we got feedback from prior generations,
but also from customers. So our product is not just about the leadership of performance, but also it's what the exactly customer
needs. When you look at that, is that really help us.
On the silver side, we absolutely -- we are powering the most critical workloads across both enterprise and the cloud, right, from
enterprise scale up and cloud scale out everywhere, the major applications across all different markets. So it's very exciting.
On the PC side, it's also exciting is we actually made tremendous progress. When we look at the -- currently, our product portfolio
line up, we actually have the strongest product portfolio in PC market in both desktop side and also in the mobile side.
In desktop side, in Q3, our market share got to 27%. On the client on the mobile side, we got to 19% market this year. Again, it is
about technology leadership, how we can provide the customers performance, efficiency across the board. So exciting journey, but
the momentum will continue, and we'll continue to drive the leadership technology and product.
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: And a question that I think I've heard a lot this week, and I had the co-CEOs of Intel here this morning is, obviously, you don't wish
ill upon your customers. But when there are changes, customers are going to change their preferences and profiles and conversations.
So you mentioned like the enterprise game is really a ground game. Like you go CIO, CIO, CIO those conversations that win you
market share over time. Have you seen any change in the very recent history as in two weeks in those conversations? And how would
you think about your business there given the change?
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: So I guess, broadly speaking about the market versus the competitive dynamic, there's this view that dollars are being sucked out
of the traditional server market and into the AI ecosystem, which you had benefit, and we'll move to AI after. But just on the traditional
server market, when you look out at next year, is this a year where you see some recovery? Or is it similar to what we've seen over
the past couple of years with maintained muted spend?
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: Okay. Regardless of how that traditional market continues to grow or at the rate of which it grows, you have seen some really
impressive growth in the MI series this year. I think if we sat here a year ago, you had confirmed to the ground that you do more
than $5 billion this year people would have been shocked. It's a really, really strong ramp.
So can you talk about how that is going in terms of the total ramp today, you're going to see a transition in product for the really
the first time in that series. So when is that transition occurring? And then just any kind of change in your outlook versus the last
time we kind of spoke?
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: So first, I want to talk about the cadence of product transitions and then about customer diversity. But in terms of upgrade cycles
with different chip families, generally, there's digestion and then there's a ramp-up period of time. And you guys have done a really
good job of kind of masking that even with your first transition last -- at the end of last year in December. Can you talk about how
you manage that? How do you manage through that? Is that a conversation with customers? Do you naturally see a wind down
quicker than you see on wind up? Anything that you can give just to talk about the cadence of those ramps?
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DECEMBER 12, 2024 / 7:00PM, AMD.OQ - Advanced Micro Devices Inc at Barclays Global Technology Conference
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: And then there's the aspect of customer diversification as well. Obviously, reinvent was very recently. You have one large customer
that's well known today. But in terms of customer diversification, could you talk to where you're seeing green shoots maybe with
other large customers and your ability to kind of expand? Is that a function of just seeing more inferencing in the market or is that
just really customers taking more time to come to your platform?
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: So customer diversification is going well. It seems that's checkmark number one. Two is, I think that increasingly, you've seen the
diversification and the differentiation in the market between NVIDIA and other players is their ability to scale to system-based
solutions, right? They have their own protocol. They're scaling up and scaling out they're clustering.
I think what's been more difficult for non-NVIDIA players just broadly has been the fact that you need a bunch of different players
to come together in order to get that scaling architecture to work. So you obviously acquired ZT; that's part one. But how is it going
in terms of your ability to replicate that sort of systems-based architecture? Are you running into kind of any walls in terms of that
process? And how are you thinking about scaling that architecture over time.
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DECEMBER 12, 2024 / 7:00PM, AMD.OQ - Advanced Micro Devices Inc at Barclays Global Technology Conference
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: Okay. And then I think that you've been very prescriptive, which has been helpful on the gross margin ramp of the MI series. And
then there will also be the layer on of a more systems-based architecture. So you said over time, moving more towards corporate
average than perhaps surpassing that. Could you give us an update on how that margin structure is progressing? When you see that
crossover point? Anything that varies in terms of your initial expectations?
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: Helpful. Using gross margin as a bridge here, I want to go to the PC side and talk about AI PC. So we've heard a whole bunch of
different things about what the AI PC market is it's updated pretty frequently. What is your view of the AI PC market moving into
'25? And we've heard it's a gross margin headwind. Is it gross margin tailwind, it's been all over the place. What is it for AMD? Is this
something that should help ASPs?
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DECEMBER 12, 2024 / 7:00PM, AMD.OQ - Advanced Micro Devices Inc at Barclays Global Technology Conference
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: And then obviously, the gross margin side of that, I know that you've done a very good job with ASPs driving some growth on the
PC side. But does AI PC lend to ASP increases or is that more of a competitive dynamic?
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: And then I just wanted to kind of conclude the topic on competition. You're hearing more about ARM. There was exclusivity going
into the end of this year. You're going to see more engagement with the ARM ecosystem into the beginning of next year. What's
your view on what the right level of penetration will ultimately be from an ARM perspective? Is that something that you factor in
when you look at the growth of your business in the '25?
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: Perfect segue into your embedded business. That's been going through a bit of a longer recovery than I think most would have
expected. And you kind of talked about some growth into the 2025 period has not been super prescriptive there. But two questions.
One, are you starting to see some green shoots in that business? I know that one of the takeaways from the conference for us thus
far has been, you've seen a little bit better telco. So that's obviously not their wireless business as much, but maybe a little on the
wireline side.
And then two, you're hearing about a potential spinout of the main competitor to Xilinx, do you think that changes the competitive
dynamic in any way?
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: So I want to just ask on the broader model in '25 really quickly. So it sounds as though the server, core server business is doing well,
PC, more second half weighted and you talked about the last earnings call, a little bit stronger end of this year, maybe a little softer
first half of next year. But in terms of like the total growth of the business, things sound good.
In terms of the operating leverage that you can get, how do you think about spend? And if I look at -- you've grown quite robustly
over the past couple of years. If spend is not as -- if revenue was not as aggressive as those big growth years of the bottom, how do
you think that you can move that OpEx lever to get more drop down to the bottom of the model?
Question: Tom O'Malley - Barclays - Analyst
: All right. Well, I really appreciate the time. Thank you for being here. It's a pleasure as always.
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