Chip processing power is almost becoming as viral as web video. You and I are the winners, but at what point would the manufacturers actually start to benefit?
AMD (AMD-NYSE) has unveiled architectural features for its quad-core Opteron processors. AMD’s redesigned microarchitecture will enable new power- and thermal-management techniques, or in other words it will use less electricity and generate less heat inside the PC. These dual cores and quad cores are incredible processors, but when you read the AMD the prevailing thought is that they will just have the quad core price fight against Intel (INTC-NASDAQ) and will either lose more money on their chips or at least run at lower margins.
When you see the news that Intel researchers have developed a research chip with 80 (eighty) individual cores, it sort of puts all this in perspective. Same price war, different year. Intel also plans to provide key details on its Teraflop research chip in a paper at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) taking place in San Francisco this week.
The real winner of these unbelievable chips is the collective YOU. Processing power has not seen Moore’s Law diminish yet, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing any time soon. Now we just have to figure out mainstream applications and software that actually needs this much processing power, AND investors will have to find a way for Intel and AMD to exist in a non-price war environment.
Jon C. Ogg
February 12, 2007
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks