If someone thinks that Intel will phase-out the Pentium 4-M and other current mobile processors and respective product lines after introduction of the Pentium M (aka Banias) chips and Centrino platform later this quarter, he is wrong. High-end notebooks computers are going to continue to gather momentum and replace desktop computers this year and both Intel and AMD are going to offer fast CPUs for such portable PCs, dividing the lines of microprocessor into two groups: for portable computers and for mobile computers. It is quite logical that AMD intends to launch its x86-64 chips with PowerNow! technology and other possible methods of reducing power consumption of the CPU, while Intel plans to unveil its Prescott processor for high-performance notebooks in the first quarter next year.

Although AMD still has 0.13 micron Athlon 64 “ClawHammer” processor for mobile computers slated to release in the second half of the year in their roadmap, keeping in mind that the Sunnyvale, California-based MPU maker plans to complete the qualification and start production using 90nm technology in the fourth quarter of this year, I believe that the first mobile x86-64 chips will be made using this technology only. Frankly speaking, after all the problems AMD run into, 0.13 micron fabrication process does not seem to be an absolutely valid choice for complex processors like AMD’s code-named Hammer chips. Therefore, it is more reasonable to expect volume availability of AMD’s Athlon 64 with 1MB of L2 cache microprocessors only after AMD deploys its 90nm technology. The same seems to apply to mobile devices and thus it does not seem that x86-64 chips with lower power consumption made using 0.13 micron fabrication process will really make it to the market unless AMD introduces kind of “special edition” processors with 256KB of 512KB of L2 cache (ClawHammer chips are now expected to be equipped with 1MB of L2, whereas plans to unveil an x86-64 CPU with 256KB of L2 seem to be cancelled). In short, mobile AMD Athlon 64 CPUs are likely to come only in the very end of the fourth quarter this year, or in the first quarter 2004, but already made using thin fabrication technology and with 1MB of L2 cache.

Intel indicated in the recent roadmap that it will launch its 3.40GHz and above Prescott chips with 800MHz Quad Pumped Bus, enhanced Hyper-Threading technology support and Prescott New Instructions.

Currently there are no details concerning new mobile platforms for the processors mentioned above.