AMD: Barcelona on time, but Budapest slips
Citigroup analyst Glen Yeung has begun suspecting that Advanced Micro Devices' quad-core "Barcelona" processor is late, but the chipmaker said Tuesday that it remains on schedule. However, shipments to supercomputer maker Cray of a close Barcelona relative code-named Budapest have slipped.
There is "no delay" for Barcelona, spokesman Phil Hughes said Tuesday. The chips, and some systems using the chips, will be available in the third quarter, he said.
Barcelona is a strategically important chip for AMD, as it tries to regain market share lost to Intel's newer Core 2-based Xeon server processors, the dual-core 5100 and the quad-core 5300.
However, Budapest shipments to Cray slipped. "Specific to Cray, we did have a change in our schedule, as far as when Cray gets Budapest parts," Hughes said, declining to share further specifics.
Barcelona is designed for systems with two or more processor sockets, but Budapest is for single-socket systems.
Cray in May said it delayed an upgrade to its AMD-based XT4 supercomputer until "late 2007."
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
