Submitted by: kirkland on Tuesday December 05th, 2006 at 03:47 PM EST

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. on Monday launched a line of computer processors that use less power, saying its adoption of new manufacturing techniques will help it compete with rival Intel Corp.

The development helps AMD close a manufacturing gap with Intel, which has been using the advanced chipmaking process for more than a year.

Each new generation of chipmaking tools shrinks circuitry further, making chips run faster and use less energy. It also boosts profits by letting chipmakers produce more chips from a single slice of silicon.

AMD is essentially taking an existing chip design, the Athlon 64 FX for desktop computers, and shrinking it. The processors are priced from $169 to $301 depending on speed and use about 30 percent less energy than the earlier versions.

» Full story @ Reuters