But that doesn't mean AMD can be dismissed as an also-ran, according to company CTO Fred Weber. In fact, over the last few years, the PC industry, including Intel, has followed AMD in making the transition from 32-bit software to 64-bit software. Weber recently spoke with CNET News.com about how that transition is forcing changes in hardware, as well as the technology race with Intel.
Q: Are AMD and Intel now seen as peers? Do you think AMD's technology is better?
A: I think we were seen as the little brother and the one who had more challenges. No question about that. But I think we are now given the respect of being a legitimate player in that market. That's very gratifying, and it sets the stage for us to do a lot more. In some sense, you can do more when the expectations on you are higher.
You asked whether we think our technology is better? I guess I would say yes. It'd be a hard question to say no to, wouldn't it? ... I think we have some important technology leads, but Intel is a great innovator as well. The most important thing about our technological approach again is it is a systems-oriented approach and a customer-centric approach.
What does that mean in practice?
Intel talks a lot about their platform approach and Centrino, and so on. Give them some credit for doing that more and more. To me, it sometimes rings a little bit hollow. Many of the things still seem to have a heritage of a chip company and a dominant player who may develop a platform, but they pretty much force that platform on you whether it's the right one or not.
What sets you apart from Intel?
They have the advantage of size, and that lets them innovate. We have the advantage, in some sense, of lack of size that lets us innovate. I must admit I think we have better (processor) architectural taste.
Can you give us any examples of where you're looking next?
Look at what we are doing with our Geode line of processors, where we've got system-on-a-chip based designs. These are devices that use average power for the entire system of a watt and less. Still, they give PC-performance experiences, and run Windows XP and other operating systems. They're much slower devices than a 3GHz desktop PC -- they might be 400MHz, 500MHz -- but that's all the performance you need for these modern operating systems. They're not compromised devices; they're appropriate devices.
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