AMD K5

The K5 was AMD's first x86 processor to be developed entirely in-house. Introduced in March 1996, its primary competition was Intel's Pentium microprocessor. Although it was originally scheduled for launch in 1995, it was delayed until 1996 because of design issues. AMD as a company was not as mature as Intel regarding microprocessor design, thus a lot of deadlines were missed and there was a lack of manufacturing expertise in scaling designs. The K5 was an ambitious design, closer to a Pentium Pro than a Pentium regarding technical solutions and internal architecture. However, the final product was closer to the Pentium regarding performance, although faster clock for clock compared to the Pentium.