AMD takes a 'SledgeHammer' to Intel
Published: 05 Oct 1999 13:00 BST
Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday will unveil plans for a 64-bit microprocessor, code-named "SledgeHammer," that will compete with "Itanium", a chip Intel named on Monday.
The chip represents a bold strategy for AMD, which, for the first time, is forgoing its usual tactic of copying archrival Intel to instead design a chip that isn't compatible with software written for Intel chips. Intel, meanwhile, said it has formally dubbed its 64-bit microprocessor the "Itanium."
That chip, which has been under development for nearly six years under the code name "Merced," has run into numerous design delays. Even so, Intel appears to have a leg up for now. The Itanium is expected to debut in the second half of 2000; Intel says it already has prototypes for testing. AMD won't launch its chip until 2001. "AMD has an enormous amount of work to do to catch up with Intel on Merced," said Linley Gwennap, an analyst at Cahners Micro Design Resources in Sunnyvale, California. "They know that the high-end chips are where the profits are, but the investment required is much higher, too."
Fred Weber, vice president of engineering at AMD, said the SledgeHammer will compete directly with Intel's Itanium chip and keep AMD competitive with its archrival for years. Stephen Smith, an Intel vice president, declined to comment on AMD's SledgeHammer chip.
AMD's chip will be compatible with older 32-bit Intel-compatible software, which runs on chips like Intel's Pentium. But AMD's no-more-mimicking-Intel strategy means that it will have to persuade software developers to adapt their 64-bit programs to run on AMD's SledgeHammer chip. (A 64-bit chip processes data in 64 chunks at a time instead of the 32 bits of today's more common computer chips.)
AMD is expected to report financial results Wednesday. The company is expected to report a third-quarter loss of 97 cents a share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. This summer, AMD saw the resignation of its highly regarded chief operating officer, S. Atiq Raza. AMD also lost hard-won market share this year as Intel launched a price war at the low end of the market. Compounding the company's problems, AMD's chief architect of the SledgeHammer chip, James Keller, resigned about a month ago. A company spokesman said Keller's departure won't affect the chip's schedule, but Gwennap called it a red flag.
Dana Krelle, vice president of marketing at AMD, acknowledged that the company will have to overcome sceptics who have grown wary of its financial struggles. But he pointed to AMD's success with its currently shipping chip, the Athlon, which is faster than anything Intel is fielding today. AMD anticipates some small benefits in the third quarter, from sales of its Athlon chips, which sell for as much as $849 (£520) compared with AMD's average prices of about $60 a chip. In 2000, AMD plans to enhance the Athlon for workstation and server computers with a new data pathway, known as a bus, that runs at 266-megahertz, or twice as fast as what Intel offers today.
Krelle said AMD's SledgeHammer chip will be designed to run the older 32-bit software at high speeds, in contrast to the relatively slow performance that is expected for the 32-bit software on the Merced chip. And since AMD's new "x86 64" architecture will offer a less radical style of computing than Merced, Krelle said, it will be far easier for programmers to write 64-bit versions of the software.
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