AMD issues dual-core chip challenge to Intel in S'pore
SINGAPORE--AMD is challenging Intel to a dual-core processor benchmarking duel which--if Intel accepts--will take place December 6 in the island-state.
AMD's proposed dual-core duel would be a live, public evaluation between server platforms based on AMD's current best performing dual-core Opteron 800 Series or 200 Series processors, and comparable Intel x86 server processors that are commercially available in volume.
The challenge ran earlier this week in an advertisement placed inside a local newspaper, and is a follow up to AMD's original August 23 challenge in the United States.
Bryan Low, AMD's South Asia vice president of sales and marketing, told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail interview that the purpose of the challenge "is to give customers information on [computing] power and performance they need to make the best decision".
Intel so far has yet to accept any of AMD's challenges, here or in the United States. The chip market leader did not respond to queries at press time.
It is clear why AMD is so pumped up in its open challenge to Intel. Just two years earlier, no major server manufacturers in the market offered AMD chips in their products. Today, IBM, HP and Sun Microsystems are just a handful that ship Opteron-based servers and workstations.
In addition, AMD has been gaining significant market share against Intel, particularly in the third quarter of 2005. According to figures from Mercury Research, Intel's market share dropped 1.4 points to 80.8 percent in the quarter ended September 30, from 82.2 percent in the second quarter.
AMD, meanwhile, saw its processor share rise 1.6 points from 16.2 to 17.8 percent in the same quarter.