Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is publicizing details about a desktop version of its 64-bit Hammer chip, the Clawhammer, to be released in Q1, 2002. Sledgehammer, a 4- and 8-way server chips, will ship one quarter after. Reportedly, the 0.13-micron Clawhammer will measure less than 100 sq. mm and could cost less than current low-end Durons. All the various Hammers will benefit from AMD's adoption of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process.

Also, AMD spokespersons talked about the transition from Athlon and Duron to the Palomino and Morgan next year, both to use improved Athlon cores. The high-end Palomino, with 256-KBytes of on-chip cache, is scheduled for Q2, 2001. It will run at 1.5GHz or about 500 MHz slower than the Pentium 4 that Intel plans to have on the market at the time. AMD, however, claims even its slower chips will outperform competing Pentium 4s in most benchmarks, The Palomino will also be sold as a mobile chip and the cheaper Morgan, with a 64-KByte cache, will ship in Q2. It was also announced that Via Technologies' KM133 complementary low-end chipset should ship in December.

For more information, read the source article at techweb.com.