AMD's official rationale: By adding Markham, Ontario-based ATI's (nasdaq: ATYT - news - people ) graphics chips and chipsets--the circuits at the core of a computer system--to its arsenal, the company is better positioned to compete with Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ).
Later he also said that developing software for the Apple Macintosh computer led Microsoft into graphics-intensive software, setting the stage for Microsoft applications and its breakthrough Windows 95 operating system.