AMD Lowers Second Quarter Outlook, Moves To FinFet
AMD is looking to brace investors for a worse than expected Q2 mainly due to
soft APU sales. The company also moving several of their 20nm designs to a FinFET node.
The company says revenue for the second quarter that ended June 27, 2015 to be lower than previously guided. AMD now expects second quarter revenue to decrease approximately 8 percent sequentially, compared to the previous guidance of down 3 percent, plus or minus 3 percent. The sequential decrease is primarily due to weaker than expected consumer PC demand impacting the company's Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) APU sales. The company expects second quarter channel sales and channel inventory reduction efforts to be in-line with the company's plans.
AMD company also cut its forecast for second-quarter adjusted gross margin to about 28 percent, as weak demand from PC makers also hurt sales of its new chip which combine both computing and graphic processing capability. AMD had previously forecast margins of about 32 percent.
Additionally the company anticipates GAAP gross margin to be further impacted by a one-time charge of approximately $33 million associated with a technology node transition from 20 nanometer (nm) to FinFET. The company started several product designs in 20nm that will instead transition to the "leading-edge" FinFET node.
AMD had previously announced their intentions to bring out some products at 20nm, with the only one we explicitly know about being the now-canceled Skybridge. AMD did not clarify which foundries these products are now at – TSMC, GlobalFoundries, or split between the two of them.
AMD will report second quarter 2015 results after market close on Thursday, July 16, 2015.