Last week we showed you some examples of 12-core processors from AMD being sold on eBAY. AMD's Director of Product Marketing for Server/Workstation John Fruehe admitted today that 12-core Opteron chips have already begun shipping, as reported last week. What the company is calling its most advanced x86 processor, codenamed Magny-Cours, is officially named the Opteron 6100 Series and production has started weeks ago at a factory in Germany. Fruehe goes on to say that OEM partners began receiving production chips in February, though exactly who received the chips is not yet being publicly revealed.

Fruehe also adds AMD is not yet ready to make the official announcement, but acknowledges the recent slew of Internet leaks about the near availability of the 45nm-based chips. Magny-Cours parts will have 8 or 12 cores and 4 memory channels when they officially launch before this spring.

Pricing has not yet been announced, but the eBay seller is attempting to sell four of the G34-socket Opteron chips for a starting bid of $7,700. AMD is believed to be using many-core designs in a bid to rival upcoming six-core Intel Xeons that will threaten current quad-core Xeons.