Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[HailMary]

There were no technical or thermal limitations that prevented Intel from releasing a 4-GHz product, Kirby says. But there were practical limitations, so that to release such a product Intel would have to devote time and energy to tweaking circuit designs and testing those chips, he says.

It sure sounds like they hit a wall on the current revision of Prescott of around 3.8Ghz, and the only way over it was to make some circuit changes to the chip, which would require another chip revision. This means design work, tapeout, validation, etc., which is typically a 9 month turnaround to a product in the most aggressive situation.

The statement Intel makes would be the same as if AMD said, "There are no technical or thermal limitations that prevent us from releasing a 3.0Ghz chip". It doesn't mean they have a current revision of a design that will run at that speed.

I'm really surprised by Intel's move on this. I would think they would pursue all avenues to ensure they hold the top end performance crown, but it appears they are conceding it temporarily (a year or so) to AMD.