AMD updated its processor roadmap last week to demonstrate how it intends to catch up and compete with Intel in the server and workstation markets.

The company has slipped behind Intel in the delivery of quad-core processors based on a 45 nanometer (nm) production process, a technology that provides greater performance at less power than AMD’s current 65nm chips.

AMD’s first 45nm processor, codenamed “Shanghai”, will have 6MB of cache, support faster memory and use up to 20 per cent less power in idle mode than AMD’s quad-core, 65nm Opteron chips.

Shanghai should boost system performance by up to 20 per cent, said AMD, and support more virtual machines on one server, crucial for datacentres looking to boost application speed while also reducing energy costs.

The new chips are expected to start shipping in volume to Dell, HP, IBM and Sun Microsystems in early 2009. Six and 12- core 45nm chips will debut in 2010.
Intel’s rival quad-core, 45nm Xeon chips, are due to ship in new servers and workstations this month.

Randy Allen, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD’s server/workstation division, said the firm was determined to design a processor that would significantly improve the traditional bottlenecks seen with multi-chip products.

“If we had taken two dual cores and put them into one package, we would not have seen anywhere near the level of performance gain,” he said.

AMD and Intel are locked in a legal dispute arising from an anti-trust case from 2005.