Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[wbmw]

Re: let's compare shipments of 64 bit processors 12 months from now.

Not much of a point, Joe. In terms of units, 64-bit x86 processors will outsell IPF by an order of magnitude or more, but since AMD and Intel have this, there is a net zero gain for either company. The only effect of the 64-bit transition is a software programming inflection point for the industry, much like what we will also see for dual core processors.

Meanwhile, the prospects of IPF put it somewhere in the high end segment competing against RISC players like Power and SPARC. This market isn't going away, and it still represents ~50% of server revenue. AMD64 won't let Opteron play in this space, just like EM64T isn't likely to get Xeon there.