On the flip side, delaying Fusion chips may help AMD reap financial benefits of the stand-alone GPU business, which is profit-making and generates a good chunk of AMD's revenue, Lineback said. If released as originally planned, Fusion chips would have reduced the need for separate graphics cards, cannibalizing the sales of ATI graphics cards. That allows AMD to keep the CPU and GPU business, which will help the company.

AMD is doing well in the GPU market, as it understands the needs of enthusiast clients like gamers who buy graphics cards, Reeves said. For being a small player, AMD took a large chunk of the graphics-card market share away from Nvidia and other companies with the launch of its ATI Radeon 4800 series graphics chips this year.

"It was a massive turnaround, and it's just a reminder to never count any major player out in this market," Reeves said.

However, it remains unclear whether progress in the GPU space and conversion to a fabless company will quickly move AMD into a profitable position. With PC sales tanking worldwide, there is no quick fix to escape the economic downturn, Gold said.

"This is definitely affecting AMD as well as Intel, which also has provided the market with some cautious statements about business for the next few quarters. If it's going to take over a year or two years for the market to recover, AMD could be hurting for a while," Gold said.