AMD: 12-core server CPUs in 2010, 16-core in 2011

During a press webcast Wednesday afternoon, AMD server business unit VP Pat Patla verified yesterday's news revealed during the company's quarterly earnings call yesterday, but then added one big component: In addition to six-core "Istanbul" Opteron server CPUs for 2P, 4P, and 8P servers available as soon as this June -- moved up from the second half of the year -- the first of AMD's 45 nm 12-core Opteron server CPUs will become available next year.

The "dodeca-core" processor will be made possible through an upgraded version of AMD's Direct Connect Architecture, now numbered 2.0. Patla showed off an accelerated roadmap for future server CPUs, which from here on out divides Opteron series into two families -- the general-performance 4000 series and the higher-performance 6000 series -- featuring 16-core "Valencia" and "Interlagos" architecture 32 nm CPUS, respectively, as soon as 2011.

After that time -- at this point, sometime in 2012 -- the company will be unveiling what it's calling the next "iteration" of its x86 architecture, implying that this could be when we see the first implementation of 28 nm architecture. This architecture was announced last week, when IBM announced that its alliance (including Global Foundries, which produces chips now for AMD) took advantage of Intel's timing adjustment by casting light upon a possible roadmap for jumping over Intel's 32 nm leadership within the next three years.

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