AMD, for so long the underdog in the processor business, claims that it is no longer just snapping at Intel's heels but actually overtaking its processor rival.

After beating Intel to the market with combination 32-64 bit processors, AMD said today that it is aiming to get dual-core and multi-core processors out before Intel. Both companies are committed to moving their entire processor lines to multiple processing cores.

"AMD has proven over the past few years that it can lead in certain technical areas," said Ranjit Atwal, senior analyst at Gartner.

"AMD isn't following any more, which has given it a credibility beyond the consumer space. It has built and delivered. Intel has stuttered on delivery and this opens the door wider for AMD."

Atwal maintained that AMD's early delivery of a dual-core server chip had helped this momentum, since dual-core speeds are only really needed at server-level at the moment as there is not enough desktop software written to take advantage of dual-core systems.

In response, an Intel spokesman stated: "We have not missed any promises as far as I'm aware. We will have dual-core on the desktop and mobile platforms this year, and dual-core servers next year. By 2007 90 per cent of our output should be dual-core."

But Richard Baker, marketing manager for northern Europe at AMD, said that his company's plans were conservative and that Intel would fall further behind.

"My view is that AMD will be there much quicker than [Intel]," he told vnunet.com. "By 2007 I expect most of our products to be multi-core, not just dual-core."

Baker added that AMD's motherboards are ready for upgrades, as a dual-core processor could be plugged into a single-core processor slot and would work with a small software upgrade.

He claimed that Intel users would need to upgrade their chipsets to take advantage of dual-core owing to power management issues.