AMD hasn't yet hammered out all the specifics, but the netbook part will run in the 10-15 watt range, which is similar to the Intel Atom, and "it will have a good processor integrated with graphics, so you won't need the [Nvidia] Ion graphics to give it half-decent performance," according to Nigel Dessau, chief marketing officer at AMD.

AMD, meanwhile, will soon introduce two additions to its Opteron family for smaller servers that sell in the highest volumes. "We are more focused on the volume space than ever before," said Pat Patla, general manager and vice president of AMD's Opteron business unit.

The most apparent trend is that AMD's CPUs beat Intel's for pure value. The Athlon II line (red) is a good distance beneath Intel's Core 2 parts, while the Phenom II line (yellow) is way below all but the best of the new Core i3 and i5 parts. Based on price alone, AMD's aggressive strategy is working.