This is just an incredibly wise maneuver, IMHO.
It is rare when two companies understand the market and technology so completely that they may realize the same goals by unification. Some may insist that it was a "buyout", but the fact that ATi shall retain a name brand is proof enough that this goes far beyond simplistic financial agendas.
The promise of this merger is a much tighter CPU/GPU integration platform. Since ATi came out of the fog to challenge and beat nVidia at their own game, and since AMD has done the same against Intel in years past (and maintained a competitive edge in that regard), the sheer aggressive nature of both of these companies working as a single force stands for a new era in computing technology.
To help answer a query, Intel hasn't renewed contracts with ATi. nVidia still has to produce a solid working SLI model for Conroe, and only around 11 motherboards support it.
So this merger was a timely occurrence to counter Intel's (premature) release of a faster CPU that was originally boasted as being 1/3 the cost of the leading AMD offering.
Those of us who are 'in the know' are waiting for the Conroe droolers to spend their hard-earned money on what is now a severely marked-up product, with limited availability & support (at least until 590 comes out en masse). We're waiting for the wonderful things that this new merger shall show us.
Mergers suck! 
Future Intel and ATI compatibility? 
An amazing thing for an amazing time 
