Could IBM's 64-bit PowerPC chip kick start Yamhill?

While a it is a 64-bit chip, like AMD's upcoming Hammer, it is also fully backward compatible with existing 32-bit code -- in this case Power PC code -- and it also implements the AltiVec instruction set extensions, unlike previous IBM-made PowerPC cores. This could be exactly what Apple is looking for in its new line of Xserve entry-level servers.

The new chip is derived from IBM's POWER4 server processor to provide higher performance and additional functions. As the first in a new family of high-end PowerPC processors, the chip is designed for initial speeds of up to 1.8GHz.

This altogether should accelerate intensive workloads like multimedia and graphics through single instruction multiple data (SIMD) units. The specialized circuits used by AMD and Intel as well.

IBM plans to pack performance and new features into the chip using ultra-thin 0.13-micron circuitry (nearly 800 times thinner than a human hair), constructed of copper wiring and about 52 million transistors based on IBM's efficient silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology.

The chip incorporates an innovative bus specially developed to speed information between the processor and memory. Running at a speed of up to 900 MHz, the bus can deliver information to the processor at up to 6.4 GB/s, ensuring that the high-performance processor is fed enough data at sufficient speeds. The PowerPC 970 also supports up to 16-way SMP configurations.

Yesterday, Gartner analysts wrote off the chances of processors that run both 32-and 64-bit code, as an irrelevant half-way house. But, with AMD, IBM, and possibly Apple using 64-bit CPUs that also run 32-bit code, it will be interesting to see Intel's response. Could Yamhill be resurrected?

Though this scenario may seem unlikely, it remains to be seen how the market responds. Desite the Gartner boot-boys' pronouncements to the contrary, AMD has kicked up mighty interest in its upcoming Operton processor. With the weight of Big Blue behind the 32/64-bit hybrid idea, maybe those non-existent Yamhill engineers will yet be wending their way back towards the test beds... µ

See also:
Hammer on a hiding to nothing, say Gartner bootboys
IBM to intro 64-bit PowerPC for desktop
Intel burns AMD-clone Yamhill idea
Intel's Yamhill still not a lost cause?
Intel's AMD X86-64 clone, doggone it
Intel will can Itanic if boy Hammer does too well
Intel won't produce AMD clone - Otellini