Are the Days of 32 Bit Chips Numbered
Synopsis The story of this article is based on an announcement made by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) that explains that they plan to stop producing 32-bit processors by the end of 2005. The vice president and general manager of AMD’s Microprocessor Business Unit made the statement during a panel discussion on the company’s 64-bit processors at the Comdex show in Las Vegas. Although AMD intends to keep selling 32-bit chips as long as customers want them, as the price of AMD’s 64-bit Opteron and Athlon 64 processors drop, customers will have less reason to purchase 32-bit processors. This may occur in part because its new 64-bit chips are designed to also run 32-bit applications without taking a hit in performance.