I am not fond of the idea of AMD and Intel merging. In my opinion and past experience the worst of the failing company can taint the company that is doing good. If Intel have enough contracts with the government they
could be put in charge of both companies and AMD leadership could be cut over time. It is not entirely logical but those with the closest ties to the government usually end up in a dominant position. It always starts with
"we will let (smaller company) keep operating as they were" but changes trickle in and all at once AMD
could be tanked.
My concern is entirely selfish. I have been enjoying the little AMD mini-pc's. The performance is great and the are more affordable than the Intel NUC's that have similar performance meaning I can get several of them for different tasks.