AMD to Release Next-Gen Microprocessors in the Second Half of 2014

From X-bit Labs: Advanced Micro Devices will update its families of microprocessors for servers and high-end desktops (HEDT) in the second half of 2014, or about two years from now, a slide from the company’s roadmap reveals. The launch schedule of the new chips, which will presumably be based on Steamroller or Excavator micro-architecture, will make it very hard for AMD to stay competitive against Intel Corp.

According to AMD’s “Cloud Server Strategy” document, which the company has been demonstrating at various industrial and internal events for about two months now, the company plans sell its Opteron “Abu Dhabi”, “Seoul”, and “Delhi” processors based on Piledriver micro-architecture for two years. Only in 2014 those chips will be replaced by “future high-performance” and “future low-power” server microprocessors. Since AMD’s server and HEDT chips are based on the same design, it is logical to expect them to arrive approximately at the same time.

At present nothing is known about the chips due in two years from now, even their code-names are missing. Still, AMD hopes to manufacture those products using 28nm manufacturing process, which will not be a leading-edge process technology then. Considering the fact that AMD does even reveal code-names of its future products, it is unlikely that the firm even knows their targeted specifications at the moment.

It will be extremely hard for AMD to remain competitive against Intel in the next two years. The latter updates both desktop and server chips every year, hence, AMD will be consistently behind its larger rival when it comes to performance and features. Moreover, even when it finally launches its new chips in 2014, those products made using 28nm process technology will be competing against Intel’s chips produced at 16nm node, which will allow them to feature more cores or be cheaper to manufacture compared to AMD’s offerings.

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