Intel on Thursday said it would release a successor to its eight-core Nehalem-EX chips next year with more cores and faster speeds as it tries to push the limits of server performance.

Open-source enterprise software company Red Hat has updated its flagship operating system, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), to take full advantage of the latest spoils from the heated microprocessor battle between Advanced Micro Devices and Intel.

Intel on Tuesday announced eight-core Nehalem-EX chips, which the company said provide performance jumps that could bring critical infrastructure computing to mainstream servers.

A European online retailer has started selling Intel's first six-core processor for desktops before the chip's official release by the hardware giant.

Advanced Micro Devices will put triple-core processors into laptops to fill a power and performance gap, the company said.

Advanced Micro Devices is gearing up for the 2010 launch of Magny Cours, a more powerful Opteron server processor that will pack up to 12 cores and use faster memory chips.

Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday announced a new range of desktop microprocessors, including its first Athlon triple-core processors.

Advanced Micro Devices' upcoming 12-core chips will draw the same power as existing six-core chips, but will have reduced clock speeds, a company official said Monday.