Rumour: Dell to buy AMD

Wall Street chatter suggests Dell might consider buying AMD
Wall Street chatter suggests Dell might consider buying AMD

Dell is rumoured to be looking to acquire AMD.

The rumour started with financial news outlet Barron's, reporting this week that AMD's shares had spiked and were up five per cent because of the possibility of a Dell acquisition being on the cards.

A "far-fetched possibility"

Patrick Wang, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, admitted to Bloomberg that he was also aware of Wall Street "chatter" about the possibility of Dell looking to buy AMD.

However, Wang also added that such a deal was a "far-fetched possibility."

Recently disposed ex-CEO of AMD Dirk Meyer did admit late last year that the company was happy to listen to any serious proposals from potential buyers that was in the interest of the shareholders. Then he was promptly fired in January of this year.

Dell currently has $14.4bn in cash reserves. However, the fact that the company also does good business with Intel and doesn't like to tie itself exclusively to any particular chip manufacturer - added to the fact that AMD itself does goes business with a number of other PC vendors in addition to Dell – suggests that a mooted Dell acquisition is highly unlikely.

Still, stranger things have happened in the tech industry, so let's not completely rule out the possibility until we receive an official denial from one or other party.

TechRadar has contacted both Dell and AMD for further comment.

Via The Register and Barron's

Adam Hartley