Nintendo isn't the only one stuffing its coffers with cash, thanks to the Wii's continued success. Chip maker AMD is also pleased as punch to be selling gobs of chips—50 million of 'em!
AMD calls the "Hollywood" graphics chip, the central Smile Processing Unit that outputs those eye-blistering Wii visuals, "the most successful AMD game console chip to date in terms of unit sales." And we'd think that "in terms of unit sales" is pretty much the primary term that AMD and its shareholders give a toss about.
Sure, they may care that AMD's stock price has dropped from about $21 at the Wii's launch to two bucks and change today, but don't blame that on the Wii!
"AMD's graphics technology expertise as displayed in the ATI 'Hollywood' chip is a great part of the momentum of Wii. Our combined efforts help deliver entertaining experiences to create many smiling faces in living rooms around the world," said Genyo Takeda, general manager of Integrated R&D at Nintendo.
Congrats, AMD chip fabrication plant. We bet you have plenty more Wii business to fall back on over the next few years.