AMD demos 45nm quad-core processors

AMD today stepped closer towards equality with Intel today by revealing the first working examples of its own 45 nanometer processors. Co-developed with IBM, the chips combine AMD's own existing quad-core technology with the smaller, more efficient chip design to improve the amount of performance without increasing power and heat as a result. The company is still hesitant to reveal full details but explains that there will be both desktop-oriented processors, codenamed "Deneb," as well as server-grade "Shanghai" chips available; these are expected to translate to both single- and dual-socket upgrades to the Phenom desktop line as well as more efficient Opteron processors later in the year.

The demonstration helps revitalize AMD's status as a manufacturer of mainstream processors, which has been damaged in recent years after Intel unveiled its Core architecture and claimed both performance and power efficiency advantages over AMD's lineup. Intel has typically been ahead of AMD in its manufacturing processes and began shipping 45 nanometer processors last fall with the 3GHz Core 2 Extreme and similar Xeon models.

AMD is also expected to improve its status in mid-2008 with a new notebook platform known as "Puma," which will include new "Griffin" mobile processors as well as a new mobile graphics chipset but will be partly based on older technology.