Intel sets the showcasing of 2GHz P4

It took more than 30 years to get to the 1GHz microprocessor performance level. It has taken Intel just 14 months to get from one to 2GHz, as the Santa Clara chipmaker is set to demonstrate its 2GHz chip at a press conference in San Jose on August 27.

Meanwhile, arch rival Advanced Micro Devices appears to have hit a major stumbling block in its efforts to keep up with Intel in the GHz performance race. The company's leading Athlon processor has remained stuck at the 1.4 GHz level for much of this year while Intel has moved quickly from 1.3 to 1.4 to 1.7, 1.8 and now 2

Ghz.

For its part, AMD claims the design of its 1.4 GHz chip allows the chip to outperform a 1.7 GHz Intel chip systems by up to 40 percent on a variety of benchmarks, including cutting-edge multimedia, desktop publishing, digital imaging and voice recognition applications.

The 2GHz Intel chip will be introduced by Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of Intel's Desktop Products Group.