It took five decades for AMD to search and build its Zen. It’s 2019 now, and it’s a different plight for AMD when it started 50 years ago, in May 1969.
There have been a lot of technological innovations already and some of the players back then are not in business anymore, and AMD is still here.
As the legendary chip designer is near the celebration of its 50 years of existence, it announced an innovation timeline to reminisce and review some of the company’s achievements through the years.
The photo of the Am386 has been posted online today. It was launched in 1991, and it’s basically a replica of Intel’s 80386 processor.
The Am386 is the chip, which placed the company on the market as a strong and credible competitor. The chip could have launched earlier, but there’s been a legal feud with Intel that time.
The feud is about the rights of AMD to create a processor, which is based on the 80386 design. The Am386 has established the brand as the 2nd biggest microprocessor manufacturer, and it leapfrogged other big companies such as Motorola.
Even if Am386 is a replica of Intel’s 80386, this chip from AMD is still different because it has a quicker top clock speed which goes to 40MHz compared to the 33MHz from Intel’s silicon. TomsHardware pointed out that AMD’s chip is the earliest chip to endorse a Windows compatibility logo on its box.
The Athlon 1000 is another important entry in the timeline. This chip has been launched in 2000. Along with its launching, AMD has won the 1GHz race.
Though, Intel always disputed it because they contented it shipped its 1GHz Pentium III before AMD. Intel stresses they’ve released Pentium III seven days before Athlon 1000.
It’s interesting to look at the history of AMD as someone who works in the computer industry, or as someone who loves computers.
One must not just look at the history of AMD because one should also study the progress of Intel. One should also not just study the competition between the two biggest microprocessor companies because the other players should be studied as well.
Now, AMD is preparing to launch the Ryzen 3000 series. It’s based on the architecture of its 7-nanometer Zen 2. Besides that, the company mentioned Zen 3 would be available sometime in 2020.
AMD’s 1000 series like its Ryzen 7 1800X has rejuvenated the CPU market and it forces Intel to come up with better products. These newer AMD chips are revolutionary, and the company is passionate and working hard, and it has a lot more to offer.
