Linux users are free, except when we're not. We're not free when we rely on hardware manufacturers to come up with the goods. We're particularly not free when there is one monopoly supplier of the hardware. We're in danger of seeing that in the CPU market.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a key and innovative maker of CPUs, has posted its 7th consecutive quarterly loss. Its balance sheet is shot to pieces. This means the company is not in a strong financial position and is in real danger of going down.

The collapse of AMD would be a disaster.

In the desktop PC market there's only one CPU type and that's the CISC type made by Intel and AMD. If AMD goes down then Intel will have a strangle-hold on this market.

Such monopoly power is bad. It means CPU prices will rise and quality will decline. Unfortunately, we've been able to avoid this situation because AMD and Intel have competed against one another forcing each other to innovate. As a result we as the consumers of CPUs have been able benefit from better and cheaper computers.

That's how it's supposed to work and that's the way it will continue to work as long as there are two chip manufacturers.

AMD, though, is in danger of disappearing. That would leave Intel as the only supplier of chips to desktop PCs. Chip prices, and therefore the prices of computers would increase, whilst the innovation decreases.

Personally, I'm processor-agnostic. I want the best processor for the job. My interest is to ensure competition to drive continual innovation.

There's little that the individual Linux user can do, but hope that AMD makes it through its hard times and continues to innovate.

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