AMD's Processor Pas de Deux

Advanced Micro DevicesAMD will roll out new PC and sever processors, along with a variety of technology initiatives over the next 12 months, in an aim by the chipmaker to grab one-third of the microprocessor market by 2008.

Speaking at AMD headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Thursday, senior management provided industry analysts with a glimpse of a road map that it hopes will allow the company to build on its recent success.

Among these products are a forthcoming quad-core processor for servers and high-end desktops as well as a dual-core processor that AMD said is the company's first processor designed specifically for laptop computers.

AMD also announced an initiative that would allow third parties to develop co-processors that run alongside AMD chips within PCs.

"Based on customer-centricity, we will continue to reinvent the industry," said CEO Hector Ruiz.

AMD's plans were greeted with a muted reaction on Wall Street, however. Shares closed the regular session up 1.6%, or 50 cents, at $31.39.

The chipmaker's announcement comes as IntelINTC, the world's dominant provider of PC processors, is set to release a fresh lineup of processors for desktops, laptops and servers that feature a brand new microarchitecture.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini has described the trio of new chips as Intel's most significant product introduction in more than a decade.

Some analysts and investors have wondered whether Intel's new chips will erase the gains that AMD has made over the past 12 months. According to Mercury Research, AMD had 21% of the PC microprocessor market in the first quarter of 2006, compared with 16.9% a year ago.

But AMD executives stressed that the company was not about to give up the power-efficiency and performance lead that has contributed to its recent success in the market.