AMD attacks the “Intel Tax” and its datacentre “designed-in bottlenecks”

In an adversarial move, akin to a bloody US political contest, AMD has published a freely accessible ‘white paper’ that focuses on detailing the “Intel Tax” and how “Intel’s product line is filled with self-imposed, designed-in performance bottlenecks.” It’s brutal stuff, aimed at encouraging system engineers and businesses to make the switch from Intel to AMD because of its superior price/performance metrics. And honestly, it kinda feels a little distasteful. Maybe it’s a cultural thing; in the UK we’ve not really gone in for that sort of adversarial advertising or political marketing fisticuffs in the past so it’s a little alien to me. But there’s also the fact that calling it a ‘white paper’ seems rather over the top in that old-school, bring-in-the-man-in-a-white-coat-to-explain-to-the-simple-housewife-why-her-current-washing-powder-is-crap, kind of way. And somehow trying to give this published vs. piece the air of scientific research by calling it such. Hell, the paper isn’t even white. But for all its overly aggressive tones, AMD’s EPYC pamphlet makes a good point about its simpler, far more transparent product stack, and that there are no platform features AMD has withheld on the basis of its price point alone.