The quad-core race might only be heating up now [0], but that isn't stopping AMD from stepping its game up in the war for more core. We've reported before that 6 and 12-core chips from AMD were a distinct possibility [0] and it looks like we were right on the money: AMD has officially added 6 and 12-core parts to their roadmap. Both the 6-core "Sao Paulo" and the 12-core "Magny-Cours" will be based on an all-new platform called "Maranello," not Barcelona. According to AMD, 12-core CPUs will be easier to manufacture, so they've decided to cancel the 8-core Barcelona and skip over that generation all together. According to the roadmap, 6-core AMD chips should be available next year, with 12-core models following in 2010.

For more on the forthcoming CPUs:
- see this New York Times article [1]