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Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) aims to strengthen its position in the entry-level processor market by introducing a 32-bit CPU, codenamed Athlon XP Paris, in the third quarter of this year, according to sources at Taiwanese motherboard makers.

The 754-pin Paris will be targeted for the desktop and will be fully based on the K8 micro-architecture, with 256KB of L2 cache, but will not support AMD64, i.e. x86-64 technology, said the sources.

With the introduction of the Athlon XP Paris, AMD’s existing Athlon XP Socket A/462 processors will be gradually phased out, the sources said.

The Athlon XP Paris is also pin-to-pin compatible with the Athlon 64 processor, so local motherboard makers can use the same chipsets and/or boards to support both the high-end 64-bit processors and the entry-level 32-bit processors, said the sources.

The compatibility, however, is likely to push down K8 chipsets prices to K7 levels, resulting in an erosion of profit margins on motherboards, the sources said.

Taiwan-based VIA Technologies, a major supplier of K8 chipsets, has not decided to launch chipsets to exclusively support the Athlon XP Paris as AMD has not yet revealed further details about the new chip, according to sources at VIA.

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