Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[chipguy]

Chipguy, your theory may work in a vacuum

It's not "my theory", it is the way business works. Graph the performance vs time of Intel desktop
processors, Sun's fastest server/workstation, or IBM mainframes. You will see a remarkably
smooth slope, not a staircase.

but I don't think AMD will be competitive against Intel with anything less than 2GHz. The notion
that they have 2.5GHz in their back pocket, which is frequently propagated by AMD hopefuls, does
not hold any water in a competitive environment.

What if they did have it and release it now? Realistically it would be the end of the road of
the 130 nm part. It would cause a splash but Intel and others would respond to it immediately
with Xeon price cuts, increased marketing, etc. AMD would then be basically dead in the water
until their 90 nm process ramps. That would provide an stationary target for Intel to tee off against
for months if not years. No company wants to lose the initiative and be seen to be stalled while
others catch up and pass.