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SAN FRANCISCO, CA--October 18, 1994--Advanced Micro Devices today disclosed
design and technology details of its fifth-generation, WindowsTM-compatible
K86 microprocessor family, establishing AMD's technical independence,
performance leadership and the ability to control its own destiny.
The initial product in AMD's K86 family, code-named K5, is an AMD-originated, true superscalar RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) microprocessor capable of executing four instructions per clock cycle, twice the capability of PentiumTM processors. The new, 4 million transistor K5 microprocessor offers at least 30 percent higher sustained performance than PentiumTM processors running at equivalent clock speeds, and will be available in a P54C socket-compatible package, AMD officials disclosed at the Microprocessor Forum here.
The K5 microprocessor, which is a four-issue machine integrating RISC and x86 capability, includes six parallel execution units, out-of-order instruction execution and branch prediction with speculative execution. These features maximize the number of instructions per clock cycle, giving the K5 product its significant performance edge.
"Other RISC microprocessor performance is significantly degraded by the software emulation necessary to run Windows applications," said Mike Johnson, director of advanced microprocessor development and AMD senior fellow. "The RISC-based platform underlying our K86 family is transparent to the software, requiring no recompilation or emulation of the existing x86 software base to achieve peak performance. This design breakthrough, combined with its four-issue capability, is what differentiates the K5 device from other fifth-generation microprocessors."
The K86 family expands AMD's heritage of microprocessor excellence and innovation, while maintaining the company's tradition of providing its customers differentiated products within the standard for mainstream personal computing established by Microsoft® Corporation. The K5 device is fully compatible with all the legacy software applications written for Windows, as well as WindowsTM 95, the next-generation Microsoft operating system written for the x86 architecture.
"With this new product family, AMD is delivering RISC performance that is a generation ahead and maintains full Windows compatibility," said John Bourgoin, AMD group vice president for microprocessor products. "Our K86 architecture stretches the x86 standard to provide the platform that meets future requirements for performance and compatibility. The K5 device is clearly the superior engine for running Windows and Windows 95 applications.
"The K86 family gives AMD the ability to provide a true alternative at the leading edge of personal computer performance. AMD will give its customers, the systems manufacturers, an advantage by utilizing this superior architecture," Bourgoin said.
"AMD knows x86 architecture as well as anyone, and we helped pioneer RISC technology with our Am29000® microprocessor family," said Johnson. "The design in our K86 family gives systems manufacturers the ability to offer their customers differentiated personal computers with higher performance to run today's applications, as well as new applications developed for Windows 95."
AMD will begin sampling of the K5 microprocessor to key development partners by the end of the year. Volume production will commence in mid-1995. Specific pricing and delivery schedules will be the subject of subsequent announcements.
Initially, the K5 device will be manufactured using AMD's 0.5-micron CMOS process at AMD's Submicron Development Center in Sunnyvale, Calif. Volume shipments from AMD's new, $1 billion state-of-the-art fabrication facility in Austin, Texas, Fab 25, are scheduled to begin during Q3 1995. Production of K5 microprocessors using AMD's .35-micron CMOS process will commence in early 1996. When fully equipped, Fab 25 will be capable of producing almost 6,000 eight-inch wafers per week.
"AMD has made a significant investment in the manufacturing capacity and process technology development necessary to assure the K86 family meets the market needs of our customers," Bourgoin said. "We are more securely connected to our customers than ever and the K86 family will reinforce our position as the leading alternative supplier to the Windows-compatible microprocessor market."
About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., is the world's second-largest supplier of
Windows-compatible microprocessors and has shipped more than 70 million
microprocessors since 1982, and nearly 30 million in the past three years.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., is the fifth-largest, U.S. manufacturer of integrated circuits. Focusing on the personal and networked computing and communications markets, AMD produces microprocessors and related peripherals, memories, and programmable logic devices along with circuits for telecommunications and networking applications. AMD has sales offices worldwide and manufacturing facilities in Sunnyvale, Calif.; Austin, Texas; Bangkok, Thailand; Penang, Malaysia; Singapore and Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan.