AMD sells 12-core processors in excess of 8 cores in the first half

September 27, according to foreign media reports, the processor industry is not improving the speed of the processor, but is moving toward adding more cores to the chip. John Fruehe, AMD’s product marketing manager for servers and workstations, recently disclosed some chip shipment information that is usually kept confidential in a blog post titled "Core--More is Better".

Fruehe writes in this article that research on sales data for the first half of 2010 shows that sales of 12-core processors far exceed sales of 8-core processors. I originally expected people to have a bit of prejudice against the 12-core processor. However, I expect the 8-core processor to increase speed will be popular in many applications. My prediction is obviously wrong. Users are voting with their budget, and the number of kernels is very important.

Fruehe proposed three situations that prompted AMD's 12-core Magny Cours processor to exceed the demand for eight-core processors. The three scenarios are virtualization, database/business application databases, and high-performance computing.

This demand for more cores is a good sign for AMD, because AMD will launch samples of the Bulldozer processor later this year and will launch next-generation chips in 2011.

Fruehe concluded that hearing this information is good because the Bulldozer processor we will launch next year will be configured with 16 cores.