Dell has agreed to use <A HREF="http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6074059.html?tag=nl.e589">Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron chip</A> in multiprocessor servers by the end of the year, ending a long-standing policy of sticking exclusively with Intel. The PC maker made the move public in its first-quarter earnings press release on Thursday. Speculation has mounted for years as to whether Dell would adopt the company's chips, despite Dell's exclusive relationship with rival Intel to this point. AMD has enjoyed a performance lead in server benchmarks over Intel's Xeon processors.