Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[CombJelly]

"It says something about Intel's strength in the market that they're willing to let AMD get out in front on announcements and then catch up"

Maybe. It all depends on when Intel finally realized that NetBurst wasn't going to cut it any more. Remember, a mostly new core takes 5 or more years to design, debug and produce. Even small changes takes 6 months to a year to bring to market. As Frederick Brooks pointed out many years ago, just throwing resources at a project doesn't speed it up, in fact it can slow it down. Bottom line, it takes 9 months to make a baby, putting more women on the job won't speed it up. However more interesting it may make it...

So if Intel realized in 2002 that they had mis-judged things, then they might be able to come out with a reasonable and well-balanced solution by the end of next year. If not, well then it will take longer. At some point, Intel will be looking at Fab36, Fab30 and possible outsourcing to IBM. Suddenly, relying on AMD to only be able to supply 20% or so of the market isn't true.