After rumour spreading a few weeks back as to a possible AMD & ATI merger, things dulled down again and without any form of official word by either company it was easy to assume we were dealing with just another made up story.

However within the last 48 hrs this topic has popped up again; first on XBit, and now Reg Hardware. The source (a chinese language website - hmmm) mentions that someone close to negotiations had passed on info that AMD has in fact reached an agreement with ATI to buy the company.

Load of hogwash?

Advanced Micro Devices, the world's second largest maker of microprocessors, reportedly has reached agreements with ATI Technologies in regards the acquisition of the latter. No details are known, but this is the second time when rumours concerning the acquisition break out in the last several weeks.

Early in June an analyst with RBC Market Capitals said that he would expect AMD to acquire ATI Technologies, as he thought it was consistent with AMD's plans to expand capacities. Acquisition of ATI would give AMD a strong team of engineers and rich product portfolio not only consisting chipsets and graphics processors, but also chips for consumer electronics, mobile phones and even technology licensing agreements with Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo. But while AMD would gain ability to offer all-in-one platforms, like Intel Corp. does, acquisition of a quite a big company may impact AMD's ability to spend on boosting its manufacturing capacities or developing new technologies.