MSI CEO Dishes on Intel Shortage, AMD Growth, Taking Share from Apple

[thoreauhd]

If not providing products for a year and downgrading all of your components is what he considers 'good support', I'm sure I can support him better than Intel by simply ignoring him.

 

[evald28]

After that interview I will try to avoid MSI products. He just indirectly confirmed that not selling AMD product is not a business but shady decision. Intel is well know from shady practices.

 

[redgarl]

Hey Avram, you should send the comments of the interview to MSI CEO. The feedback is unilateral and the concerns are clear. This is going back to the MoaP.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

Chiang told us that, given Intel's strong support during the shortage, it would be awkward to tell Intel if he chose to come out with an AMD-powered product. "It's very hard for us to tell them 'hey, we don't want to use 100 percent Intel,' because they give us very good support," he said. He did not, however, make any claims that Intel had pressured him or the company.

IOW: Chiang said that his wallet (or that of the company, since his depends on that) is hinged on what Intel tells them and does for them. Since AMD can't offer the same "benefits package"... They follow the "advice" of Intel.

AMD has been shafted in the past in the mobile market... focus on their low end parts, especially the APUs that were/are below the A series, and when the A series is featured, an avoidance of the higher end units... combined with low end parts for the rest of the laptops. Even the Intel low end parts didn't get the lower quality/options parts. (MSI wasn't/isn't the only one guilty of this.)

Remember people, Intel got caught before "insuring" the use of Intel over the competition.... as Microsoft got caught "insuring" the use of MS-DOS/Windows a few decades back. (insuring as in failure to use our products exclusively, especially in higher end units, will result in less support and incentives.)

I will admit I favor AMD over Intel... I do however usually go for the best bang for the buck and the highest performance my budget will allow regardless.

 

[mihen]

I think his reasons for sticking with Intel are pretty clear. By maintaining a positive relation with Intel, they get priority for CPUs in their OEM computers. They still sell AM4 boards and AMD GPUs.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

I think his reasons for sticking with Intel are pretty clear. By maintaining a positive relation with Intel, they get priority for CPUs in their OEM computers. They still sell AM4 boards and AMD GPUs.

Yup... they don't want to upset Intel.

 

[SkyStormy]

I find it interesting how he basically said that Intel's poor decision-making hurt sales for an entire year and will continue hurting it until the end of 2019, but he still doesn't want to use AMD because Intel "give us very good support." What kind of support is he talking about that makes up for almost two years worth of poor motherboard sales?

it's not just MSI, one of the sellers also said the same thing in my country.. Intel has good support than AMD. this is also why it's a bit hard to find AMD processors. now it's getting somewhat better since Ryzen.

 

[jimmysmitty]

I find it interesting how he basically said that Intel's poor decision-making hurt sales for an entire year and will continue hurting it until the end of 2019, but he still doesn't want to use AMD because Intel "give us very good support." What kind of support is he talking about that makes up for almost two years worth of poor motherboard sales?

Support in designing systems and drivers most likely. Not to blame AMD but Intel has a massive software team and developers dedicated to working with OEMs to ensure their products work well.

i sure hope we're not witnessing a replay of 2000-2006 OEM pay-offs to block competition... just seem odd to anyone else that a company would shrug off potential sales & growth like this? how can anyone in the industry see AMD's Ryzen path, balanced against Intel's woes, and decide they don't want a slice of that pie?

Because for almost 10 years AMD had mostly downs and massive loss of sales with losses most every year. A business that just barely has turned around is not one to jump into right away. Its an obvious business choice.

AMD having a better system is not an overnight flip. It will take time to rebuild relationships with OEMs and retail channels.

That also means that most Intel consumer desktop cpus are the garbage chips with scraped shut broken cores, caches etc. Better to go with Ryzen 8 cores and higher where everything is intact and thus priceworthy.

That is not what it means. However both intel and AMD sell chips that didn't pass certain bin stages. AMD did it a lot with Phenon II which disabled faulty cores on chips that didn't pass yet motherboard vendors allowed them to be unlocked.

Okaaay ... so the guy is basically admitting that Intel is still potentially offering incentives to companies to not use AMD ...

Read between the lines ... why should he care if Intel is upset that he is selling more AMD parts if it has no impact on his business? It sounds like that Intel being "upset" impacts his relationship with Intel ... since MSI is making money on AMD, why in the hell should he care about this if there isn't some sort of incentive or punishment from Intel on this matter?

Like we need another reason to hate Intel, but my god, what a horrible company.

I currently have an MSI motherboard in my rig ... I think that'll be the last MSI part I ever buy.

In no way is that what he is saying. He is stating that Intel provides good support. Not a surprising fact since they have a vast software and dev team at their disposal that rivals most big software companies.

Seriously people tend to forget how involved Intel is in PCs. Their main product is CPUs but they are heavily involved in most every facet of computer design and technology. They work with countless other manufactures on standards and technology.

This is a cut and dry case of AMD needing to rebuild relationships with OEMs and it will take time. Its not overnight and never has been nor will it ever be. If AMD continues to release good products that challenge Intel and can also provide great levels of product support they will get more OEM designs.

 

[CanoeBeyond]

I just built 5 Ryzen 7 machines for scientific computing. Four of them have MSI X470 motherboards. I think I'll be re-evaluating for my continuing builds after listening to "Chairman" Chiang. Not happy. It sounds like Intel is playing monopoly games once again.

 

[reyfox_i]

I find it interesting how he basically said that Intel's poor decision-making hurt sales for an entire year and will continue hurting it until the end of 2019, but he still doesn't want to use AMD because Intel "give us very good support." What kind of support is he talking about that makes up for almost two years worth of poor motherboard sales?

Maybe money? Intel has been known to do these types of "incentives" ..... also making MSI lower on the "priority" list if they do not obey...

 

[siman0]

Going to be honest the laptop part of their sales are way to complex with way to many SKUs... I love my GS series laptop from them, but my next laptop will be ryzen powered. Kind of a dumb move as a CEO not to take advantage of AMD and ryzen's expansion... EVGA is probably feeling the squeeze fairly hard as well.

 

[shmoochie]

I find it interesting how he basically said that Intel's poor decision-making hurt sales for an entire year and will continue hurting it until the end of 2019, but he still doesn't want to use AMD because Intel "give us very good support." What kind of support is he talking about that makes up for almost two years worth of poor motherboard sales?

Support in designing systems and drivers most likely. Not to blame AMD but Intel has a massive software team and developers dedicated to working with OEMs to ensure their products work well.

i sure hope we're not witnessing a replay of 2000-2006 OEM pay-offs to block competition... just seem odd to anyone else that a company would shrug off potential sales & growth like this? how can anyone in the industry see AMD's Ryzen path, balanced against Intel's woes, and decide they don't want a slice of that pie?

Because for almost 10 years AMD had mostly downs and massive loss of sales with losses most every year. A business that just barely has turned around is not one to jump into right away. Its an obvious business choice.

AMD having a better system is not an overnight flip. It will take time to rebuild relationships with OEMs and retail channels.

That also means that most Intel consumer desktop cpus are the garbage chips with scraped shut broken cores, caches etc. Better to go with Ryzen 8 cores and higher where everything is intact and thus priceworthy.

That is not what it means. However both intel and AMD sell chips that didn't pass certain bin stages. AMD did it a lot with Phenon II which disabled faulty cores on chips that didn't pass yet motherboard vendors allowed them to be unlocked.

Okaaay ... so the guy is basically admitting that Intel is still potentially offering incentives to companies to not use AMD ...

Read between the lines ... why should he care if Intel is upset that he is selling more AMD parts if it has no impact on his business? It sounds like that Intel being "upset" impacts his relationship with Intel ... since MSI is making money on AMD, why in the hell should he care about this if there isn't some sort of incentive or punishment from Intel on this matter?

Like we need another reason to hate Intel, but my god, what a horrible company.

I currently have an MSI motherboard in my rig ... I think that'll be the last MSI part I ever buy.

In no way is that what he is saying. He is stating that Intel provides good support. Not a surprising fact since they have a vast software and dev team at their disposal that rivals most big software companies.

Seriously people tend to forget how involved Intel is in PCs. Their main product is CPUs but they are heavily involved in most every facet of computer design and technology. They work with countless other manufactures on standards and technology.

This is a cut and dry case of AMD needing to rebuild relationships with OEMs and it will take time. Its not overnight and never has been nor will it ever be. If AMD continues to release good products that challenge Intel and can also provide great levels of product support they will get more OEM designs.

I think you are missing the point. We all know that Intel is massive and has a lot of money to throw around which is why they have such close relationships with manufacturers. Most of the people are upset that Chiang explicitly states that Intel does not like them selling AMD anything. He literally says that it pisses Intel off that their AMD mobo sales are good even though it was Intel's shotty decision-making that caused it. Everything about the interview alludes to the fact that Intel is throwing their monopolistic weight around trying to control the market, which should piss off enthusiasts who want innovation and a decent value for performance.

 

[jimmysmitty]

I find it interesting how he basically said that Intel's poor decision-making hurt sales for an entire year and will continue hurting it until the end of 2019, but he still doesn't want to use AMD because Intel "give us very good support." What kind of support is he talking about that makes up for almost two years worth of poor motherboard sales?

Support in designing systems and drivers most likely. Not to blame AMD but Intel has a massive software team and developers dedicated to working with OEMs to ensure their products work well.

i sure hope we're not witnessing a replay of 2000-2006 OEM pay-offs to block competition... just seem odd to anyone else that a company would shrug off potential sales & growth like this? how can anyone in the industry see AMD's Ryzen path, balanced against Intel's woes, and decide they don't want a slice of that pie?

Because for almost 10 years AMD had mostly downs and massive loss of sales with losses most every year. A business that just barely has turned around is not one to jump into right away. Its an obvious business choice.

AMD having a better system is not an overnight flip. It will take time to rebuild relationships with OEMs and retail channels.

That also means that most Intel consumer desktop cpus are the garbage chips with scraped shut broken cores, caches etc. Better to go with Ryzen 8 cores and higher where everything is intact and thus priceworthy.

That is not what it means. However both intel and AMD sell chips that didn't pass certain bin stages. AMD did it a lot with Phenon II which disabled faulty cores on chips that didn't pass yet motherboard vendors allowed them to be unlocked.

Okaaay ... so the guy is basically admitting that Intel is still potentially offering incentives to companies to not use AMD ...

Read between the lines ... why should he care if Intel is upset that he is selling more AMD parts if it has no impact on his business? It sounds like that Intel being "upset" impacts his relationship with Intel ... since MSI is making money on AMD, why in the hell should he care about this if there isn't some sort of incentive or punishment from Intel on this matter?

Like we need another reason to hate Intel, but my god, what a horrible company.

I currently have an MSI motherboard in my rig ... I think that'll be the last MSI part I ever buy.

In no way is that what he is saying. He is stating that Intel provides good support. Not a surprising fact since they have a vast software and dev team at their disposal that rivals most big software companies.

Seriously people tend to forget how involved Intel is in PCs. Their main product is CPUs but they are heavily involved in most every facet of computer design and technology. They work with countless other manufactures on standards and technology.

This is a cut and dry case of AMD needing to rebuild relationships with OEMs and it will take time. Its not overnight and never has been nor will it ever be. If AMD continues to release good products that challenge Intel and can also provide great levels of product support they will get more OEM designs.

I think you are missing the point. We all know that Intel is massive and has a lot of money to throw around which is why they have such close relationships with manufacturers. Most of the people are upset that Chiang explicitly states that Intel does not like them selling AMD anything. He literally says that it pisses Intel off that their AMD mobo sales are good even though it was Intel's shotty decision-making that caused it. Everything about the interview alludes to the fact that Intel is throwing their monopolistic weight around trying to control the market, which should piss off enthusiasts who want innovation and a decent value for performance.

Anything can be interpreted in any way, especially when something is translated. He said he would prefer to not upset Intel.

Either way there is no monopoly to speak of anyways. You can go to Dells site and they currently have AMD laptops and desktops with probably more designs coming as AMD products grow. Thats a pretty big OEM, bigger than MSI in the consumer desktop/laptop market, and they have no problem selling AMD products. He could possibly be wrong but who knows.

As I see it AMD has a bit more time for OEMs to fully trust and design around their products.

 

[xxxlun4icexxx]

Great write up. I can see MSI's standpoint. I wouldn't bash them at all for it. AMD has to have a fully stable product and once that is there it could take quite some time to get it fully integrated into a new product. Design, Driver support, Legal, a handful of other things. AMD's Ryzen lineup is a great start and Chiang implies pretty obviously that he is excited about the possibility of using them in the future.

He goes out of his way to say that the company wants to play it safe. Regardless of shortages, they consider intel safer at the moment because their product is stable and they already have how many variables already set in place to use their design.

That being said, competition is great so I hope to see them start selling both in the near future.

 

[Altherix]

I smell a lot of B.S. on the refusal to use AMD. This is when you're usually asking to see that their bank statements don't have any deposits done by Intel.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

I smell a lot of B.S. on the refusal to use AMD. This is when you're usually asking to see that their bank statements don't have any deposits done by Intel.

It isn't usually by a kickback/subsidy that puts cash back that way... it's extra discounts, priority R&D assistance, priority order processing/shipping, etc. in some single option or combination thereof.

 

[bramahon]

That excuse referring AMD chips would add additional "layers" of complexity sounds like corporate BS! they already have that layer within their system, in motherboards and GPUs. Probably it'd appear much simpler had Apple been using AMD chips; good luck stealing their market share!

 

[jimmysmitty]

That excuse referring AMD chips would add additional "layers" of complexity sounds like corporate BS! they already have that layer within their system, in motherboards and GPUs. Probably it'd appear much simpler had Apple been using AMD chips; good luck stealing their market share!

By complexity they would have to design whole new laptop and desktop systems around the chips and would have another layer of systems for consumers to go through and decide on. While I don't like Apple and would never buy one the reason they sell well to the mass is because of the simplicity. Every Mac is the same, minus of course the levels such as CPU, RAM amount or storage. Otherwise a MacBook Pro is a MacBook Pro. The software is all written for it and the system is designed for it. Makes it easy for the user and easy for Apple and in turn costs less for Apple in design and support and therefore more profitable. A company thinks in profits, not how much choice they can give a consumer.

With AMD and Intel both have different cooling requirements and design needs. That would be more cost into developing for something that may or may not sell enough to justify it. For example, Intel was the company that designed the Ultra Book style and design and have been slowly working towards less motherboard PCB space for laptops. I can't say if AMD has as well although I would imagine they would want to to compete properly in that market.

Go talk to normal people, an by that I mean people who are not building their own PCs or are more or less technology deficient. Ask them if they know who AMD is. Thats a big factor as well.

 

[metalcraft218]

I've owned 2 MSI mobos and a handful of MSI gpus...I'm currently running the 970A Gaming Pro Carbon on my current system and although I've had to RMA a previous board, they're not THAT bad. There have been some hardware compatibility issues (memory especially when it comes to replacing old with new). It's their control software that absolutely sucks like the MSI Gaming App and MSI Control Center!!

Their GPU's are kinda meh, but perform well in real world benchmarking.

To be honest, after this rig, I'll be moving on to Asus. It's not that the performance hasn't been great, but I'm starting to see more bells and whistles (they've gone bonkers on RGB garbage!!) rather than kick ass performance. Sorry MSI...but your time is nigh.

 

[wownwow]

"Tariffs: Yes, You're Paying More"

No, if the factories are moved out of China, Trump's plan of not heavily rely on "Made in China." All previous paycheck-collecting Presidents just followed the last President and kept kissing China Communist's ass but did nothing!

God bless stupid Americans to let them have wealthy Trump at 72 willing to spend his precious life facing and working for stupids and their future.

 

[wownwow]

"Tariffs: Yes, You're Paying More"

No, if not "Made in China", Trump's plan of not heavily relying on "Made in China." All previous paycheck-collecting Presidents did nothing but just kept kissing China Communist's ass!

God bless stupid Americans to let them have wealthy Trump at 72 be willing to spend his precious life facing and working for stupid people and wrestling with stupid paycheck-collecting career politicians who get paid for doing nothing but focusing on getting elected again!

 

[shmoochie]

"Tariffs: Yes, You're Paying More"

No, if not "Made in China", Trump's plan of not heavily relying on "Made in China." All previous paycheck-collecting Presidents did nothing but just kept kissing China Communist's ass!

God bless stupid Americans to let them have wealthy Trump at 72 be willing to spend his precious life facing and working for stupid people and wrestling with stupid paycheck-collecting career politicians who get paid for doing nothing but focusing on getting elected again!

1. Pretty much all of the tech manufacturing companies that are leaving China are not coming to the US. Trump has done nothing to incentivize them to do so.
2. Even if they do come here, prices will still increase due to higher wages and better regulations. This still results in a price increase.
3. China was already moving away from manufacturing before the tariffs by redirecting their investments into the service industry. Trump's tariffs have done basically nothing besides strain China's timelines.
4. Put your faith in Trump if you want, but stop acting like a 72 year old real estate mogul knows shite about the tech industry. The only thing Trump knows about China's manufacturing is that they make cheap red hats for his campaign and cheap clothes for his daughters clothing line.

 

[redgarl]

He got some explaining to do...

https://youtu.be/osSMJRyxG0k?t=1832

https://youtu.be/osSMJRyxG0k?t=1974

 

[redgarl]

Okaaay ... so the guy is basically admitting that Intel is still potentially offering incentives to companies to not use AMD ...

Read between the lines ... why should he care if Intel is upset that he is selling more AMD parts if it has no impact on his business? It sounds like that Intel being "upset" impacts his relationship with Intel ... since MSI is making money on AMD, why in the hell should he care about this if there isn't some sort of incentive or punishment from Intel on this matter?

Like we need another reason to hate Intel, but my god, what a horrible company.

I currently have an MSI motherboard in my rig ... I think that'll be the last MSI part I ever buy.

In no way is that what he is saying. He is stating that Intel provides good support. Not a surprising fact since they have a vast software and dev team at their disposal that rivals most big software companies.

Seriously people tend to forget how involved Intel is in PCs. Their main product is CPUs but they are heavily involved in most every facet of computer design and technology. They work with countless other manufactures on standards and technology.

This is a cut and dry case of AMD needing to rebuild relationships with OEMs and it will take time. Its not overnight and never has been nor will it ever be. If AMD continues to release good products that challenge Intel and can also provide great levels of product support they will get more OEM designs.

Yeah... good support... never heard that before...

https://youtu.be/osSMJRyxG0k?t=615

https://youtu.be/osSMJRyxG0k?t=1832

I just posted the same link... but with your post, it just show how much people are playing the same tape. This is making you look like the typical downplaying actor lacking the critical part that is so obviously important in today world. It is untrue and a safe way to say they are having premium for their exclusive partnership.

 

[redgarl]

That excuse referring AMD chips would add additional "layers" of complexity sounds like corporate BS! they already have that layer within their system, in motherboards and GPUs. Probably it'd appear much simpler had Apple been using AMD chips; good luck stealing their market share!

By complexity they would have to design whole new laptop and desktop systems around the chips and would have another layer of systems for consumers to go through and decide on. While I don't like Apple and would never buy one the reason they sell well to the mass is because of the simplicity. Every Mac is the same, minus of course the levels such as CPU, RAM amount or storage. Otherwise a MacBook Pro is a MacBook Pro. The software is all written for it and the system is designed for it. Makes it easy for the user and easy for Apple and in turn costs less for Apple in design and support and therefore more profitable. A company thinks in profits, not how much choice they can give a consumer.

With AMD and Intel both have different cooling requirements and design needs. That would be more cost into developing for something that may or may not sell enough to justify it. For example, Intel was the company that designed the Ultra Book style and design and have been slowly working towards less motherboard PCB space for laptops. I can't say if AMD has as well although I would imagine they would want to to compete properly in that market.

Go talk to normal people, an by that I mean people who are not building their own PCs or are more or less technology deficient. Ask them if they know who AMD is. Thats a big factor as well.

Hey... they are making a motherboard for a mobile laptop. Don't make it more than what it is.