Dell flips to AMD for high-end servers

The first AMD-powered Dell servers are expected to ship by the end of this year

Dell will start shipping servers featuring AMD's Opteron processor, the hardware maker unveiled as part of its latest earnings release. 

The chips will power multi-processor servers positioned at the high end of the company's server line. The first models are expected to ship by the end of this year.
Dell previously shipped systems powered only by Intel processors. The company held back on creating AMD-powered models citing a lack of customer demand, and is one of the last major server manufacturers to embrace AMD chips. 

Dell's love affair with Intel, however, is far from over. The company still plans to create servers based on Intel's forthcoming Woodcrest processor.

AMD has overtaken Intel in performance benchmarks for server chips in recent years and has demonstrated strong performance improvements for its desktop CPUs.

The lack of AMD computers in Dell's product line-up is often cited as one of the reason's behind the company's stagnating revenues.

Dell issued an earnings warning earlier this year, and the final results fell within these restated figures.

The vendor grew revenues by six per cent year over year to $14.2bn for the three months ending 5 May. Net income increased 18 per cent to $762m.