Partners cite decline in sale of AMD processors

New Delhi

February 19th, 2008

Channel partners aligned with AMD in various parts of the country have
registered a slowdown in the sale of the brand over the last two quarters. And
partners are squarely blaming the non-competitive attitude of the vendor and its
diminishing support to the channel.

The DQ Week spoke to a cross section of partners across the country and most
complaints came in from New Delhi, upcountry locations in North India, Chennai
and Kerala.

AMD dealers in Chennai shared that over the last two quarters there has been
a drop in the sale of the brand. They stated that this was due to the lack of
new marketing initiatives by AMD, as they are not coming out with any new
products to compete with Intel.

"For a long time, AMD has not launched any new products and due to their
non-competitive attitude, they are losing market in Chennai. Over the last few
months, there has been a 30 percent decline in AMD's business here," shared
Navin Sethia, CEO of Chennai-based Delta Peripherals.

Sharing similar sentiments Eldho Areeckal of Kerala-based Aldous Glare
commented that earlier AMD was giving tough competition to Intel in the region
and had almost 40 percent market share. However, in the last two quarters, the
sale of AMD has declined by 15 percent and stands at approximately 25 percent
now.

Partners also added that there were very few promotional activities by the
company in their regions and the vendor is not focused towards ensuring channel
benefit due to which the sale was on the decline.

New Delhi-based Saket Kapur of Green Vision shared that not only was the sale
of AMD going down, its newly launched quad-core processor-Barcelona had failed
to elicit any enthusiasm among its partners. This he noted was due to the fact
that the vendor had not focused on the commercial aspects before launching the
processor in the market. On the other hand Intel he said Intel was aggressive in
the market.

Himanshu Jain of Delhi-based SMC International had a slightly different take
and he said that to drive AMD products the channel partners need to have a clear
focus, in the absence of which they might be facing a slowdown in their
business. "I have very strong relations with AMD and I do not find any
difference in their sales figure or marketing approach. There is no decline in
the number of AMD customers and in fact, the sale is expected to grow by 10
percent by the end of this month," added Jain.

A prominent dealer in Jammu shared that the business of AMD has been going
down in the valley as the company has lost its aggressive grip and the channel
are not getting any support from them. The partner added that because of all
these problems AMD has seen its sales going down by almost 40 percent in the
state.

Ambrish Mehta of Patiala-based Forte Systems blamed the companies channel
policies for its dwindling marketshare. He opined that a lot of differences had
occurred lately in the channel centric programs of AMD. While Intel is more
focused and keeps introducing initiatives that satisfy the channel community,
AMD has been gradually losing its business and overall the market has declined.

Dealers in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra shared that they do not
have any issues with the marketing approach of the company and are contented
with the way the AMD is driving its products.

A sales executive of Bangalore-based Value Point Systems, who looks after the
AMD account, shared that in Karnataka there had been no change in the sales of
AMD products and over the last two quarters business has been consistent.
"The reason for smooth business of AMD in Karnataka is that the company
conducts training session for dealers every quarter and they keep a check on the
buying trends of customers, so it is has a strong presence in this state,"
he said.

Incidentally, in a recent development it was reported that Dell has decided
to stop selling many computers with AMD processors on its website. This could be
an indication that the vendor is losing focus not only with the channel partners
but also with OEMs.

When contacted, AMD officials were not available for comment on the issues
and problems that were raised by the channel community.