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Another CeBIT announcement from AMD involves the shipping, later this month, of AMD Athlon XP processors based on a 0.13 micron process. This technology enables the production of transistors that are about one thousandth the width of a hair, with up to 100 million of them on each chip.

What this should mean, for end users, is smaller-sized and lower-powered processors that have improved performance. The only downside to this

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down-scaling, as it were, is being more prone to overheating. And perhaps this is a factor more pertinent to AMD, whose processors have generally run at a higher temperature than those of Intel.

AMD claims that the Athlon XP version based on this technology - codenamed the 'Thoroughbred' - is approximately 38 percent smaller than the Athlon XP currently based on 0.18 process technology.

All Athlons should be produced on 0.13 micron technology by the end of 2002, expects AMD.

Intel, of course, has pioneered the way with a 0.13 micron process back in November 2000. But while AMD has come late to the party, it believes it has more than caught up. 'Our closest competitor's most recently announced processor on 0.13 micron technology is nearly 83 percent larger than AMD's 0.13 process solution,' said Bill Siegle, a Senior VP at AMD. 'Moving to 0.13 micron technology will enable us to produce higher-performing products while lowering costs, putting us in an even stronger competitive position.'