AMD ships 500 millionth x86 processor in 40th year
updated 05:05 pm EDT, Wed July 22, 2009
AMD ships 500m x86 chips
AMD on Wednesday announced that is has recently shipped its 500 millionth x86 proccessor. To celebrate this milestone, which conveniently occurred during the chipmaker's 40th anniversary celebrations, AMD is giving away four HP Pavilion dv2z notebooks. Beginning July 27th, those interested in the contest can enter by answering questions AMD will post on its Twitter page regarding the company's history, with a new question posted every two weeks for 8 weeks.
AMD's main processors are based on the Intel architecture and widely used in desktop and notebook computers, and also in servers and workstations. Its earliest x86-based chip is the K5 introduced in 1995, when the x86 instruction set was in the sixth generation design used by Intel's Pentium Pro. Most of its processors have launched with equivalent technology shortly after Intel's own releases.
The California company recently scored a victory in the computer market when the European Commission fined Intel $1.45 billion for allegedly abusing its monopoly status to price AMD out of the market and discourage PC builders from offering AMD-based systems. Intel has protested the decision and claimed it was competing fairly.
