AMD lost money that they will regain by now being a producer of chipsets, cpus AND video cards. Something Intel hasn't even done (although it appears they are gearing up for it again... smart move.) since the late 90s with the i7xx video card series (solid cards for the time, shame they stopped.)
Every time someone buy something with an integrated ATI chipset or processor (which is a ton of laptops and desktops, not to mention macs) AMD builds itself up.
Yes Intel's C2Ds are better than AMD's desktop offereings.
Yes AMD's hurting some because of stockholder panic. But since when does faster chips doesn't mean that AMD is "done for" like I keep hearing.
If that were the case VIA would be well out of business.
SiS wouldn't exist.
FACT is AMD is, and has been, focusing on the very lucrative business sector and thus allowing the consumer sector to lag behind technologically, in something that they couldn't compete in for production anyway. What I mean here is, even if AMD (and who knows, maybe they do) had a badass chip for us Ubar-gamers they couldn't produce them while concentrating on business AND ATI at the same time... yet.
Intel, however can.
Unlike Intel they don't have nearly the production capacity to focus everywhere... so blows will be traded for a while and Intel will be ahead probably more often than not.
So what?
Intel was the king since the 80s and all AMD did was grow anyway.
Something along the line of 90% or more of computers sold are NOT Macs but Apple gets along just fine.
Being 2nd does not mean gone, nor does it mean it has to stay that way.
AMD slung a huge stone into Intel's eye and staggered them enough to suck up an unforgettable portion of their marketshare. AMD has already done what it wanted to do in a relatively short amount of time. They aren't going away just because Intel has better 32-bit desktop processors just yet.
Why does the AMD and ATI merger do anything else but make sense?
It takes money to make money.
Every day that someone buys an ATI card or ATI item, let alone AMD is yet another dollar that Intel gets. AMD floats until their next major cpu launch for business (and if you privy to embedded roadmaps you would see they are far from dead) get some cash, and voila they are just fine again.
I'm not saying AMD isn't interested in beating Intel, of course they are, but they don't have to to "stay alive."