The quad-core chips that have been at the top of the microprocessor heap for two years are about to begin to be replaced by 6-core processors, Intel has said.

Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group, this afternoon announced that the company is set to release its 6-core Xeon processor for expandable servers in September. Dubbed Dunnington, the Xeon processor X7460 will be built with Intel’s new 45-nanometer Penryn technology, the company said.

Moving beyond quad-core processors, which to date have been the high-water mark in the semiconductor industry, is a major step - one that keeps Intel well ahead of rival AMD, according to Dan Olds, principal analyst with the Gabriel Consulting Group.

AMD, which has been getting its feet under itself after a rocky 2007, has shipped a lot of new products this year, including triple-core Phenom processors, along with quad-core Phenoms, graphics chips and chipsets.

But AMD hasn’t yet launched its 45nm processor and it’s not slated to release its upcoming 6-core Istanbul server processor until the second half of 2009 - about a year after Intel version ships.

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