Dell Announces New AMD-Based Desktops And Servers As Quarterly Financial Results Disappoint

Dell said Thursday it plans to expand its relationship with Advanced Micro Devices to offer AMD-based desktop PCs starting next month, and two-socket Opteron servers by year end.

Dell previously said it will begin offering a four-socket Opteron server by year end.

AMD disclosed the plans as part of its second-quarter financial announcement.

The financial results, while in line with lowered analyst expectations, were disappointing, as revenue and earnings declined for the second consecutive quarter. The results also come only days after the company announced the recall of 4.1 million batteries used in its laptop computers.

Dell announced net income of $502 million, or 22 cents a share, on revenue of $14.1 billion. That was up 5% from the same period a year ago, but down 1% from its first fiscal quarter.

Dell has seen erosion in its revenues, earnings, and market share.

According to Gartner, Dell maintained its position as the leading supplier of PCs in the second quarter, but again lost ground to Hewlett-Packard. Dell shipped 9.7 million PCs in the second quarter, for 17.7% market share, but saw growth compared to the same period a year ago increase by only 11.6%.

HP by contrast had shipments of 8.1 million PCs in the second quarter, for 14.8%, but experienced growth of 13.8% compared to same period a year ago.

In the server market, AMD has seen its share of x86 processor sales grow from 22% in the first quarter to nearly 26% in the second quarter, according to Mercury Research.