The market for microprocessors, the chips that act as calculating engines inside PCs, servers, laptops and other gadgets, slowed during the third quarter as consumer demand slackened, market researcher IDC said Thursday.

Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday posted a net loss for the third quarter, but reported a boost in microprocessor and graphics products sales as it inches its way back to profitability.

IBM has refreshed its CloudBurst products for building a virtualized private cloud, adding configurations based on its Power7 processor on top of the x86-based systems it already offered.

Laptops and desktops with Intel's next-generation Core chips will ship early next year, and the chip maker will use its conference next week to highlight the architecture behind the new processors.

Intel has expanded its share of the server microprocessor market, taking advantage of a slow product transition at perennial rival Advanced Micro Devices, according to figures released late Wednesday by IDC.

Intel on Tuesday reported strong earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2010, buoyed by strong microprocessor sales in the server segment.

Intel's latest microprocessor family, code-named Sandy Bridge, will start rolling off production lines faster than expected due to rave reviews by customers, the company's CEO said Tuesday.

Advanced Micro Devices is looking to invest in technology companies as it tries to build a hardware and software ecosystem around its upcoming Fusion processor, the company said on Tuesday.

Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday announced a new family of microprocessors for cloud computing servers, including one chip priced at US$99.

PC makers Hewlett-Packard and Dell have spilled details about new quad-core laptop processors from Intel prior to launch of the chips.

PC maker Dell is looking into Advanced Micro Devices' Fusion processors for use in future laptops and desktops as it tries to make PCs smaller and more power-efficient, a company executive said.

Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday announced new mobile processors as it tries to bridge the power and performance gap with Intel, while trying to lower laptop prices.

Advanced Micro Devices is trying to beat Intel on price with its latest six-core desktop Phenom II X6 processors, which were announced on Tuesday.

Apple has updated the 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models with Intel's Core i5 and i7 processors, which will include two integrated graphics processors to improve the laptops' battery life and performance.

The latest family of Intel microprocessors, code-named Sandy Bridge, will be in production by the end of this year, while desktops and laptops with the chips will likely be on world markets in early 2011.

Intel will ship computers with an experimental 48-core processor to researchers by the end of the second quarter as the company tries to reshape its future chips.

Hewlett-Packard, Dell and IBM rolled-out new servers on Tuesday based on Intel's latest Xeon 5600 microprocessors, which promise better performance and power consumption.

Customer finds a fake chip and a plastic heatsink instead of the processor he purchased.

IBM on Monday launched its latest Power7 processor, which adds more cores and improved multithreading capabilities to boost the performance of servers requiring high up time.

On same day IBM unveils latest Power7 processor, Intel shows off Itanium 9300.