ATHLON 64: HOW AMD TURNED THE TABLES ON INTEL

Summary from the TLDR Web Dev newsletter

In 2003, AMD released the Athlon 64, a 64-bit CPU, challenging Intel's reluctance to extend the x86 architecture. Intel initially pursued its own 64-bit architecture, Itanium, aiming for a clean break from legacy systems and potential market dominance. However, AMD's Athlon 64 offered backward compatibility and strong 32-bit performance, appealing to users and businesses alike, leading to Intel abandoning Itanium and adopting AMD64 (renamed Intel64).