AMD eyes server revival with aggressive new approach

Computerworld - To break its slump in the server market, Advanced Micro Devices has adopted an aggressive strategy whose goals include the introduction of new ARM and x86 chips by 2014 and continued improvements to its Opteron chips.

The company recently introduced two low-power Opteron processors that are designed for use in cloud servers that process Web transactions. Meant for entry-level and midrange servers, the nine new Opteron 4300 and 3300 x86 server chips can have up to eight cores.

The new chips could be used in AMD's SeaMicro line of dense servers, which now use the Opteron 4200 and 3200 chips introduced late last year. The new chips offer an average performance boost of 15% and consume less power.

AMD's goal is to mix and match x86 and ARM processors in servers. Last month, AMD started shipping Opteron 6300 chips for midrange and high-end servers.

AMD had a 4.5% share of the x86 server processor market in this year's third quarter, down from 5.2% in the same quarter last year, according to Mercury Research. The remaining market share belongs to Intel.

This version of this story was originally published in Computerworld's print edition. It was adapted from an article that appeared earlier on Computerworld.com.

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