AMD has begun moving to 65nm chips with the announcement of new dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processors. The chips deliver improved performance-per-watt plus reduced power consumption, and will enable smaller form factor PCs, the company said.

Shrinking the circuitry on a chip enables it to run faster and consume less power. Intel, AMD's rival, introduced 65nm chips in 2005 and has recently announced it will begin a move to 45nm in 2007. AMD said it expects to have fully converted to 65nm production at its Fab 36 factory by mid-2007.

AMD said that Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo will all have desktops based on the new Athlon 64 X2 chips in the first quarter of 2007.

The new Athlon 64 X2 5000+, 4800+, 4400+ and 4000+ processors are clocked at speeds from 2.6GHz to 2.1GHz and cost $301, $271, $214, and $169, respectively.