AMD reveals roadmap, all new chips coming in 2010

AMD might seem down as of late but don't count the company out just yet. At its annual analyst conference, the Sunnyvale, CA chipmaker released an updated product roadmap for public consumption and also let slip a few details on heretofore unknown future products. First, the company confirmed a few things we already knew: Barcelona is coming in August and the company's next-gen Puma mobile architecture is still on track for 2008.

Looking farther ahead, AMD hopes to launch a few all-new lines in 2010:

• Bulldozer, which is aimed at the server and workstation markets;
• Bobcat, which is set to appear in laptops; and
• Falcon, the company's first integrated CPU/GPU part, which will be partially based on the Bulldozer core.

As far as manufacturing is concerned, it appears that the company is finally looking to get out of the business; AMD stressed a commitment to a mix of in-house and third party fabrication through 2009--ostensibly, that means the company's new 2010 product lines will be completely manufactured by outside parties. This is probably for the best, as it increasingly appears that AMD is fighting a manufacturing battle with Intel that it cannot win.

Speaking of Intel, the European Commission yesterday announced that it has issued "formal charges against Intel for allegedly using illegal tactics against smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices." Apparently, the EU's top anti-trust regulator "has spent years investigating Intel's tactics to determine whether it acted unfairly to preserve its dominance over AMD" and is now ready to take some action on the legal front. This could prove a big win for AMD in the European market and may even have some repercussions back in the U. S. of A.

For more on AMD:
- check out this write-up on the AMD conference from PC Perspective
- this press release on the EU's announcement
- and this Engadget article on the charges