Intel Corp (INTC)

[Unkwn]

the 32 core AMD chips are all 2.2GHZ and lower...

And for reference, Intel's highest end 28 core processor is clocked at 2.5GHZ base frequency.

So you should really think about wtf you are saying before you say something patently untrue. And packaging 4 chips is a clever hack but if AMD could infact produce monolithic core chips, it would. Packaging for a 4 die package is fairly expensive and basically gluing together 4 desktop parts.

It all boils down to which is more expensive to produce and what is the resulting performance and market impact. Especially for the first topic - we all don't know. Even if the total chip area may be smaller for Intel's chip (does anyone have numbers?), it may still be more expensive to produce, e.g. due to higher production costs due to Intel's lower volume compared to exploding foundry business or simply lower yields due to the larger single chip. It is by no means an easy question and it may even end up to be the best way for both companies, e.g. because Intel would be able to achieve better yields with the single chip whereas AMD just gets better volume prices by using existing designs and just combining those into a single package.

Seen from top, it looks like this to me: While Intel wasted a lot of money and effort to make step into mobile, AMD took its chance to release competitive products in the meantime. Now, Intel will try to strike back as hard as possible but this time, cards are a bit different. In the past, Intel was able to use its process advantage to outperform AMDs products. Today, Intel has no lead anymore and it could well turn out that AMD will have access to leading process tech soon instead, simply because they use foundries. Since Intel failed to bring in new business in the past years, they simply cannot afford anymore to keep up with the foundries because it is too expensive. The situation is completely new to Intel and AMD is in a much better position than it was in the past. Intel, on the other hand, didn't particularly show that they can cope with the competition at equal process tech, as could be seen from their missteps in the mobile business. Therefore I think it is reasonable to assume that Intel isn't the company it once was anymore, which also puts AMD in favor, which definitely isn't willing to do the same mistake they did in the past for a second time.