AMD gaming client PC business boss says PlayStation 4 helped AMD avoid bankruptcy

The phenomenal success of the PlayStation 4 helped AMD avoid going bankrupt, in a new LinkedIn post from AMD's own Gaming Client PC Business boss. Check it out:

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AMD is in quite an awesome position right now with the mega-success of its Ryzen CPUs, EPYC CPUs, semi-custom design wins inside of the PlayStation 5 (and PS4, obviously) as well as the Xbox Series X/S consoles, and even the PlayStation 5 Pro coming later this year... oh, and the next-generation PlayStation 6 console in a few years time.

But years ago, AMD wasn't in a good state... back in 2015, AMD reported a revenue slip of 10% because of a shrinking PC market, but that's where Sony stepped in with the PlayStation 4 console. AMD Gaming Client PC Business Lead, Renato Fragale, explained on his LinkedIn: "Managed 15-person product development team for Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) that has sold over 91Mu to date. Viewed as one of the most successful launches in AMD history, helping AMD to avoid bankruptcy".

AMD didn't just have a semi-custom chip inside of the PS4 at the time, with the previous-gen Xbox One consoles also powered by a semi-custom chip made by AMD. Profit margins weren't huge on the semi-custom designs, but with Microsoft and Sony selling tens of millions of consoles between them -- hell, the PS4 sold 117 million consoles, the Xbox One has sold around 58 million consoles -- and AMD avoided bankruptcy.

It's an interesting look into how a semi-custom design win for consoles helped AMD hold off from bankruptcy, and even more interesting that we got to see it through a LinkedIn post, and not something from AMD officially. Still, congrats AMD on these semi-custom wins and avoiding bankruptcy, because if you didn't, Intel would be ruling us right now.