Opteron

Opteron is a discontinued product line of x86 CPUs from AMD, targeted at server and workstation markets. First released in April 2003, Opteron is the first processor series to support the x86-64 instruction set. The product competes against Intel's Xeon-branded processors. The first generation Opteron, codenamed SledgeHammer, is based on the company's K8 microarchitecture, and is succeeded by the K10-based Barcelona in September 2007. The last CPU series to receive the Opteron branding are the Seoul and Abu Dhabi processors, based on the Piledriver architecture, and released in 2012. In January 2016, the first ARMv8-A based Opteron-branded SoCs were released, though it is unclear what, if any, heritage this Opteron-branded product line shares with the original Opteron technology other than intended use in the server space.