ECONOMICS

AMD announced revenue shipments of the first processors based on its new x86 “Bulldozer” architecture. Initial production of the world’s first 16-core x86 processor, codenamed “Interlagos,” began in August and shipping to customers is already underway. Compatible with existing AMD Opteron 6100 Series platforms and infrastructure, “Interlagos” is expected to launch and be available in partner systems in the fourth quarter of this year. Many of the initial shipments have been earmarked for large custom supercomputer installations that are now underway.

“This is a monumental moment for the industry as this first ‘Bulldozer’ core represents the beginning of unprecedented performance scaling for x86 CPUs,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, AMD Products Group. "The flexible new ‘Bulldozer’ architecture will give Web and datacenter customers the scalability they need to handle emerging cloud and virtualization workloads.”