According to The Inquirer we can expect the first AMD Opteron processors made on the 90nm process as soon as December. According to their sources these chips use a lot less power than their predecessors, they are designed to use 45W maximum rather than the 80-90W that the 130nm ones are using now.
If the reports turn out to be correct, and our sources for this have proved themselves highly reliable in the past, it's set to cause Intel the mother of all migraines.
Intel is currently, and quietly, briefing press that sign a non disclosure agreement about its own next generation processor, the Prescott. It maintains this chip will ship to its customers during this quarter, but it's not expected to be launched until February of 2004.
If AMD is really this close to shipping 90 nanometer Opterons, there could also be a real headache for Intel on the desktop front. The "FX" generation of Athlon 64 chips is really an Opteron cunningly re-branded.
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