AMD has launched what it calls its ‘disruptive server strategy’ by acquiring SeaMicro, a maker of micro-servers that up until now had been built using Intel’s Sandy Bridge or Atom processors. AMD said that it paid $344 miillion for SeaMicro as it looks to accelerate its push into the cloud server market as a component, and now hardware supplier. The move will be a setback for Intel as SeaMicro’s server designs were flexible enough to accommodate up to 786 Atom processors in one server.
SeaMicro’s servers will not need any special configuration to support AMD’s x86-based chips and are flexible enough to accommodate ARM-based chips as well as MIPS-based processors. SeaMicro had been Intel’s main partner in the burgeoning micro-server segment, which is forecast to capture 10 percent of the total server market by 2015.
‘We are accelerating AMD’s transformation into an agile, disruptive innovator capable of staking a data center leadership position,’ said AMD CEO Rory Read. ‘The unmatched combination of AMD’s processing capabilities, SeaMicro’s system and fabric technology, and our ambidextrous technology approach uniquely positions AMD with a compelling, differentiated position to attack the fastest growing segment of the server market,’ he added.
SeaMicro currently competes against HP, but says that it is not looking to compete against its own server customers. It expects to start shipping SeaMicro servers with its own Opteron chips later this year, but it is expected to supplement its current server strategy, not replace it.
