PC processors entered the Gigahertz era today in the year 2000 with AMD's Athlon — AMD hit marketing gold with its 1 GHz Athlon, beat Intel by a nose

In the year 2000, AMD made a significant leap in PC processor technology by shipping its 1 GHz Athlon CPU, marking the beginning of the Gigahertz era. AMD's marketing success with this milestone processor slightly edged out its competitor Intel. The launch was compared to historic achievements like man's first steps on the moon and breaking the four-minute-mile record. Intel, caught off guard by AMD's announcement, responded with a paper launch of its 1 GHz Pentium III chip but faced supply issues. This event marked a pivotal moment in the CPU industry's history.