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Japanese lab orders IBM supercomputer with AMD chips

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW YORK: AMD’s next-generation computer chip got a boost when a Japanese research lab ordered the technology as part of a supercomputer from IBM.

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IBM reported the order from Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. AMD introduced the 64-bit Opteron chip in April to compete with the Itanium chip made by Intel Corp., the world's largest microprocessor maker.

The chips are designed to work with large amounts of data or strings of numbers at once, but the Intel chip failed to generate much of a buzz among computer buyers, and the attitude rubbed off on its much smaller rival AMD.

IBM was the only major computer manufacturer to commit to start building computer servers based on the Opteron when AMD launched the chip. The computer maker followed through on its word and said that it would begin shipping later this quarter a new computer server based on the chip, which can handle 64 bits of data at once, with full shipping in October.

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The Japanese lab will use the supercomputer to help it search for new materials to be used for super conductors and fuel cell batteries and in the life sciences. IBM said it is building the computer for delivery in 2004 but did not disclose terms of the contract.

Computers using 64-bit chips can handle data-intensive jobs better than those using 32-bit chips that PC processors and most server processors use, because they can process more information in the same amount of time. But some critics have questioned the merits of 64-bit computing because it may require companies to write new applications instead of using those already written for 32-bit computing.

AMD says its chip, however, enables companies to easily switch systems without sacrificing performance.

The supercomputer will operate at 11 trillion calculations per second, or 11 teraflops, and run the Linux operating system on clusters of computers that work together. The system will run on 2,116 Opteron processors and also include Intel Corp. 64-bit Itanium processors.

© Reuters

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