AMD to rely upon ‘Barcelona’ quad-core Opteron server chip for a possible comeback

AMD has been performing well since quite some time now in the server microprocessor market. However, newer processor launches from industry leaders Intel has pushed them on the defensive.

The company said that they are going to bank upon the success of their upcoming ‘Barcelona’ quad-core Opteron server chip.

Intel has already made available its “Clovertown” quad-core Xeon chip. AMD plans to launch their competing products by the middle of 2007.

Kevin Knox, vice-president of AMD’s commercial business spoke on their plans: “We are not yet in the SME segment; it represents for us a great volume opportunity since we have so little market share now.”

Knox added on the average selling prices of the processors: “Volume has not been the issue; we had a bigger challenge with ASPs. You get into these things when you have products that are very close to equal performance. That is where you get squeezed on the price side, because it is the only leverage you have left.”

Knox further said on their rivals Intel: “They have this big engine but they cannot get data to it fast enough. This is going to be the biggest enhancement to the x86 architecture since we released Opteron. It will take the power-per-watt equation to levels that people have never seen before.”