AMD plans to rapidly move its forthcoming 1.3GHz and 1.33GHz Athlons to the price point currently occupied by the 1.2GHz processor to continue to keep pressure on Intel in the desktop sector.

The 1.3GHz and 1.33GHz Athlons, which are already on a number of price lists and available in Japan, will drop to the level of the 1.2GHz part by early to mid-May, according to current plans by AMD.

This is intended to queer aggressive pricing by Intel on the Pentium III in the same timeframe.

The pricing scheme is intended to give AMD a chance to ship its current level of microprocessors through its existing channel, and at the same time keep Intel on its toes.

AMD is keen to keep its distributors and dealers happy - last year Intel antagonised the same group of people by announcing unexpected price cuts and an inability to supply microprocessors to anyone but tier one vendors such as Dell. Dell remains an Intel stronghold.

Despite reports from the US, AMD has no shortage of Athlon parts, and is also redoubling its efforts to sell Durons.

In order to capture the low end of the business and educational market, AMD has to establish Durons in entry level machines, and is currently discounting these chips to attract manufacturers to build machines targeting this sector.

It does not need to discount its Athlons in the same way, as these processors generate a fair profit for the firm at the current pricing level, while still undercutting Intel's Pentium III family.

As reported here last week, AMD has already completed its 760MP dual chipset and is readying this for a launch also likely to be in the middle of May. ®