Chip maker AMD is attempting to have its Torrenza socket system recognised as a standard.

IBM, Sun Microsystems, Dell and HP are among the companies that will be taking a look at developing for Torrenza, according to a statement from AMD.

The opening up of the Torrenza specifications could allow for other chipmakers to produce co-processors that would have access to the same resources as the CPU, potentially allowing for much better performance from co-processors.

Nathan Brookwood, a senior analyst at Insight 64, told vnunet.com: "For companies that have complementary products, it would make a lot of sense.

"Companies developing microprocessors could adapt their products to work in the same socket as the AMD Opteron, thereby having two separate products serving two separate markets but with one research and development programme."

AMD could also see an increase in sales of many of its products by sharing the Torrenza technology, according to Brookwood.

"When you go along with the Torrenza socket you are adopting HyperTransport and many subtle aspects of AMD architecture," he said.