AMD is not abandoning socket-mountable processors

Although Intel didn’t confirm the rumours of their BGA mounted sockets, AMD on the other hand gave a sigh of relief to DIY enthusiasts by saying that they’ll stick to socket mounts for processors.

This is what AMD’s Chris Hook told Tech Report:

AMD has a long history of supporting the DIY and enthusiast desktop market with socketed CPUs & APUs that are compatible with a wide range of motherboard products from our partners. That will continue through 2013 and 2014 with the “Kaveri” APU and FX CPU lines. We have no plans at this time to move to BGA only packaging and look forward to continuing to support this critical segment of the market.

As the company that introduced new types of BGA packages in ultrathin platforms several years ago, and today offers BGA-packaged processors for everything from ultrathin notebooks to all-in-one desktops, to embedded applications and tablets, we certainly understand Intel’s enthusiasm for the approach. But for the desktop market, and the enthusiasts with whom AMD has built its brand, we understand what matters to them and how we can continue to bring better value and a better experience.

AMD does have its priorities straight, atleast when it comes to BGA and socket mount. As of now its the ultra-thin notebooks, AIO desktops, embedded units and tablets that will the processor soldered directly on the circuit board. But for desktops, socket stays all the way.

But AMD still needs to spill out the details what kind of processors do they plan to reveal in 2014 for desktop processor roadmap-  and if its something that will satisfy the DIY enthusiast market. Recently, AMD only said that it will deliver ARM- based processors and x86 Opteron processors in 2014.

AMD also struggles financially as they have put their campus for sale. If AMD wants a good chance for an impressive comeback, they need to deliver something effective in 2013- 14.