AMD to cut Opteron prices in early May

US DISTRIBUTORS tell us to expect a round of fresh price cuts on Opteron processors and the like in early May.

Although we have no details of such pricing quite yet, we're wondering if the cuts will coincide with some 90 nanometre little Opterons, fresh from the IBM foundry.

What IBM foundry deal, we hear you asking? Because neither AMD nor IBM have yet formally announced that such a thing will happen in the future.

We understand that the deal is inked - the die is cast, and in return for IBM helping little Cheapzilla out, Big Blue is getting all sorts of tips and hints on how to make its own technology go that little bit faster.

IBM, you see, prefers to do trades, and the quid pro quo is some intellectual property from the little microprocessor company. µ