Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[Elmer Phud]

Paul -

First off, I am not a process expert. I just know a bit about it because my work interacts with it.

From a manufacturing perspective it would make perfect sense to offer two products from the same die. What do you think Intel does? They offer 3. P4, Xeon and Celeron are all more or less the same die now or just different steppings of the same one. I'm not revealing any secret here because anyone can buy them, crack them open and see for themselves. I'm sure the competition has... It makes production much easier. One product through the fab. You can differentiate at wafer sort on a lot by lot basis (just Thorton), or save those with half the cache bad (Thorton and Barton). It gives you great flexability. If they are different die then you have to guess right about demand 3 months in advance. With the same die you could wait until the wafers are finished to make your decision.