AMD to launch 750 MHz Athlon
By Our Corporate Bureau | 29 Nov 1999
AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) is all set to launch a new 750 MHz variant of its Athlon processor. This will make it the fastest available microprocessor for the PCs. The company would be hoping that this would help it gain some edge over Intel at the marketplace, which has been short on coming, even after the launch of its Athlon processor (see ' AMD lines up Athlon against P III' ).
Incidentally Intel is said to be having difficulty meeting demand for its fastest Pentium III chips, the 733 MHz 'Coppermine' range, and this could be the moment for Athlon. AMD has Compaq and IBM shipping PCs with this processor and now has found favour with another brand of PC, Gateway.
In fact, AMD has been so successful at manufacturing the Athlon that it can announce faster versions of the chip almost at whim, according to Nathan Brookwood, president of market research firm Insight 64, in Saratoga, Calif.
"Athlon clearly has a lot of room in the architecture to scale, and AMD's 0.18-micron process will allow the silicon to easily reach 800 MHz," Brookwood said. "Increasing the speed grades is mostly a matter of when AMD decides it wants to print a new box and label new packages."
