Athlon Hits 1 GHz

AMD has beaten rival Intel past the post in a major industry milestone, becoming the first chipmaker to pass the 1 GHz mark. AMD has begun shipments of 1 GHz Athlon processors. "The implications of AMD delivering an astounding 1GHz processor will be far reaching. Not only will the processor enable tremendous performance for the most processor-intensive applications available, but also it may drive the creation of new applications that can take advantage of speed and performance," said AMD chief technology officer Peter Ashkin. The first gig chips will appear in systems from Compaq and Gateway. AMD is pricing the part at $1299.