The chips offer better performance while drawing the same amount of power as existing quad-core Shanghai server chips, AMD officials have said. Servers with eight Istanbul chips could offer the processing power of up to 48 cores.

AMD has already demonstrated working models of Istanbul, and the chips will be manufactured using the 45-nanometer manufacturing process.

"This allows AMD to move into position for a stronger showing in the server space during the second half of the year," Spooner wrote.