Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has  announced it will launch a new line of chips that integrate four computing centres on a single piece of silicon later this year.

The upcoming Phenom line of processors will be able to maximize performance by managing energy use more efficiently and minimizing the distance information has to travel to be used, the Sunnyvale, Calif. chipmaker said on Monday.

AMD is expected to begin shipping its Phenom line of computer chips, which use four-core processors, in the second half of the year.
(AMD)

Without naming chief rival Intel Corp., AMD said that its own design — which interlinks the four cores, keeping data within a single processor — eliminates "a bottleneck inherent in other products that are packaging two dual-core chips to form quad-core processors."

Intel's Core 2 technology is used in its chip lines that incorporate two processors in one computing core.

AMD on Monday was also to offer its first public demonstration of an eight-core system that pairs two of its Phenom quad-core processors. The eight-core platform expected to be available in 2008, is code-named "FASN8" — pronounced "fascinate."

AMD's Phenom chips will come in three versions — a four-core FX flavour that targets high-performance uses such as high-end PC video games and will be offered in an eight-core set, and X4 and X2 four- and dual-core versions.

On May 9, No. 1 chipmaker Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., launched its new line of Centrino-branded chips that incorporate wireless networking and the company's Core 2 Duo technology.