AMD's Thunderbird to debut Monday
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
June 1, 2000, 1:15 p.m. PT
just in A high-performance version of Advanced Micro Device's Athlon processor
dubbed Thunderbird will make its debut Monday, according to sources close to the
company.
The Thunderbird is essentially an enhanced version of the Athlon, a line of processors that has
been credited with turning the company's fortunes around. Its release is expected to spark a
new round of competitive battles with Intel.
To be incorporated into high-end consumer systems and business
desktops, Thunderbird will run at speeds ranging from 750-MHz to
1-GHz and higher, according to sources.
AMD also will formally open its fabrication facility in Dresden,
Germany on Monday.
Although similar to current Athlons in several respects, the
Thunderbird chips will incorporate a number of firsts for the chip
manufacturer.
The Thunderbird Athlons, for instance, will contain 256KB of
secondary cache integrated into the processor. The cache
improves performance because it holds data that the processor
needs to access quickly. Current Athlons come with 512KB of
secondary cache located near the processor, but on separate
chips. Although larger, the cache on current Athlons is slower.
The new architecture also will cut manufacturing costs. Free of the larger cache, Thunderbirds
can be put into smaller, less expensive packages.
The new processor marks AMD's first foray into copper. Many of the new Thunderbirds will be
made with copper, rather than aluminum, circuitry. Because copper conducts electricity better
than aluminum, the chips run cooler. This gives AMD the opportunity to make faster versions in
the future.
Copper Thunderbirds will come out of AMD's Dresden plant; aluminum Thunderbirds be
produced at its Austin facility.
In addition, AMD will begin to market Thunderbirds for the business and corporate market.
Computers using AMD's chips have mostly been confined to the consumer market. The
consumer PC market continues to grow, but it represents less than 40 percent of the overall
market. A push into the commercial sector therefore would open new revenue streams for
AMD.
AMD officials declined to comment on the chips, but said that the company has committed to
releasing the Thunderbird in June. Thunderbird also is slated to be released before Duron, a
low-cost version of the Athlon. Duron is slated for release on June 12.
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