AMD to tout product road map at tech day

By Scott Hillis






SAN FRANCISCO:


Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the No. 2 maker of computer microprocessors, is

set to give a glimpse into future products this week, hoping to reassure

investors that it can go head-to-head with rival



Intel Corp.






AMD executives will showcase the company's road map at its annual technology day
and analysts said they expect to hear details of new chips for servers and

laptops, as well as plans to move to cutting-edge chip-making technology.






The company has fired on all cylinders lately, with profits soaring as it steals
market share from Intel. AMD had 21.1 per cent of PC processor shipments in the

first quarter, up from 16.9 per cent a year earlier, according to Mercury

Research.






But Intel is fighting back by rolling out all-new chips for desktop, laptop and
server computers at the same time it adopts new manufacturing technologies that

let it make smaller chips at a lower cost.






"They certainly are going to convey why they believe Intel's next-generation
products aren't going to be leaving them in the dust," said Nathan Brookwood,

who runs an industry consultancy called Insight 64.






AMD is sure to highlight upcoming chips for servers, where it has enjoyed the
greatest success against Intel, most recently earlier this month when Dell

Corp., the world's biggest computer maker, said it would offer AMD chips for the

first time in high-end servers.






In a sign of the high stakes, Intel's new microarchitecture is making its debut
in a server chip due out within a couple months, a break with the company's

traditional practice of deploying fresh processor designs through desktop chips

first.






"We're looking for them to detail their server road map a little bit," Doug
Freedman, an analyst with American Technology Research, said of AMD.






"They've been very quiet recently on what they are going to do to regain the
lead in the server space in the back half of the year," Freedman said.






There is also speculation that AMD will take the wraps off a new chip for
laptops, where Intel has long been considered to have the advantage, first with

its Pentium M processors and now with its Core Duo chips.






"Our checks indicate that AMD has been working on an optimized mobile
architecture, and we think that we could get a first peek at that architecture

during the analyst meeting," Merrill Lynch analyst Joe Osha wrote in a research

note.






"A real move from AMD in mobile should be treated as a significant move by the
market."






Shares in AMD rose 1.4 per cent to close at $30.89 on Wednesday. The stock has
doubled over the past year while Intel's has fallen by nearly a third.






AMD may also delve into its manufacturing capabilities in the wake of its
announcement this week that it will spend $2.5 billion over the next 3 years to

upgrade and expand its chip factories in Germany.






Whereas Intel already has three factories producing chips with circuits etched
at a width of 65 nanometers, AMD is still bringing its sole 65-nanometer plant

online, and plans to upgrade another factory. Moreover, Intel hopes to widen its

manufacturing lead by having 45-nanometer technology in place by the end of next

year.






"They (AMD) might talk about 45 nanometers and tuck it into their road map. It
would not surprise me if they said they will lag Intel by six, nine, 12 months,

and then I wouldn't be surprised if they deliver sooner than that," Freedman

said.