The second largest CPU designer and manufacturer, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), is making waves in the PC world when it confirmed reports that it is going to acquire video card/graphics processor giant ATI Technologies for $5.4 billion. The acquisitoin is expected to come in both cash and stock form as AMD said it would "acquire all of the outstanding common shares of ATI for $4.2 billion in cash and 57 million shares of AMD common stock." Other sources footing the bill for AMD would include a hefty loan from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding of $2.5 billion. The move does not come as a surprise to many as ATI also designs a number of periphery chips and additional motherboard components that surround both Intel and AMD CPUs. Intel's substantial success with motherboard-integrated video processing units in pre-made computers like Dell no doubt could take a hit with such a deal as some have speculated that AMD's acquisition of ATI could be part of a strategy to tap into Intel's chipset and GPU market.

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