X-bit labs

AMD Admits: AMD Phenom Comes Really Late.

Category: CPU

by Anton Shilov

[ 07/20/2007 | 11:59 PM ]

During the most recent teleconference with analysts Advanced Micro Devices confirmed the earlier rumours that the roll-out of its new micro-architecture-based enthusiast-class processors will mostly occur next year and not a lot of highly-anticipated chips will be available in 2007. While the company mainly talks about revenue ramp of its products, such claims also usually describe unit volume ramp.

“We’ll be shipping the Phenom variance of the new product in Q4 but frankly, that’s going to be late enough in Q4 that while there’ll be some contribution to the bottom line, it won’t be substantial,” said Dirk Meyer, AMD’s chief operating officer and president.

Earlier it was reported that the chipmaker only plans to unveil its AMD Phenom FX-80 processor, which is designed for single-processor configurations, in November or December this year, whereas AMD Phenom FX-90 and FX-91 products are set to be released sometime in the first quarter of 2008, sources close to AMD indicated. The move delays the introduction of AMD’s FASN8 platform, which employs two microprocessors and also reduces the number of AMD Phenom FX models to be sold this year.

It is rumoured that four new-generation AMD processors will be available this year: AMD Phenom FX with four processing engines, two quad-core AMD Phenom X4 CPUs and one dual-core AMD Phenom X2.

“Phenom comes really late and so I think the benefit of Phenom in terms of ASP elevation you will see in the first quarter of ’08,” said Henri Richard, AMD’s marketing chief.