Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices dropped prices on its processors for notebooks and servers this week. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD lopped as much as 31 percent off its list prices for Athlon XP-M processors and reduced prices on a handful of Opteron server chips by as much as 35 percent. The company regularly changes its prices as a way to increase the competitiveness of its chips, foster demand for PCs or make room for new processors. AMD posted the new prices on its Web site Monday, and a company representative confirmed them Tuesday morning. AMD last cut its prices in May.

The Opteron cuts, the first for the chip line, follow recent reductions by Intel on the price of its Xeon server chip. AMD lowered the price of the Opteron 144, its top Opteron chip for single-processor workstations and servers, by 35 percent, cutting it from $669 to $438. AMD trimmed the price of its top Opteron for dual-processor machines, the Opteron 244, by 13 percent, taking it from $794 to $690. The company also lowered prices on its Opteron 142, Opteron 240 and Opteron 242 models by between 10 percent and 34 percent. The chips now sell for $292, $256 and $455, respectively.