AMD (AMD) is going to offer the world more powerful chips for servers and PCs. It is not enough that it and Intel (INTC) have hardware with four cores, or processors, to do Herculean computational work. Now AMD says it will produce chips with six cores and then eight. Intel will have to keep pace.
According to The Wall Street Journal "More calculating engines tend to boost computing performance, although software modifications are sometimes needed to exploit the full benefits of such "multicore" chips."
Therein lies the problem. At some point the chip power moves beyond the needs of the hardware manufacturers and the programs who make applications for the semiconductors. The power of the weapons moves ahead of the soldiers.
AMD hopes to beat Intel by using R&D to best Intel, but the market still needs to have a product which it can use. It is not clear that six and eight core products fit that bill.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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