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| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of January 2, 2000 |
Older News |
January 4, 2000 |
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Gateway rips into Intel for chip shortagesBy Ken Popovich January 6, 2000 |
Executives at PC maker Gateway Inc. have
leveled harsh criticism of Intel Corp., coming close to
blaming the chip manufacturer for its poor financial
performance in the last quarter. As Gateway officials announced late Wednesday that the company's fourth-quarter earnings would fail to meet expectations, they also strongly hinted that the company would be seeking an alternative chip supplier. The financial warning, the officials said, was due in large part to Gateway's inability to obtain needed processors and motherboards. |
See Today's Related Stories |
AMD counters Intel with 800-MHz Athlon chipBy Michael Kanellos and Joe Wilcox January 6, 2000 |
AMD shot back at rival Intel today in
the ongoing battle for chip supremacy by releasing its
fastest Athlon processor to date and by demonstrating a
consumer PC that runs at 1 GHz. AMD's new 800-MHz Athlon, announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, matches the clock speed of Intel's fastest Pentium III chip and actually outperforms the Pentium III in certain benchmark tests, according to analysts. Both IBM and Compaq Computer announced PCs to go along with the chip, while Hewlett-Packard opted for the AMD K6-2 for notebooks for the first time. |
See Today's Related Stories |
AMD scores HP notebook win, readies 800-MHz debutBy Michael Kanellos January 5, 2000 |
AMD sought to counter a groundbreaking
Intel initiative with an expanded relationship with
Hewlett-Packard, and tomorrow will announce an 800-MHz processor that matches the giant's fastest chip. As expected, AMD will release an 800-MHz Athlon processor at the Computer Electronics Show tomorrow in Las Vegas. Both IBM and Compaq will be on hand to announce computers incorporating the new chip, according to sources familiar with the Sunnyvale, Calif., company's plans. |
See Today's Related Stories |
Intel's supplies woes seen helping rival AMDBy Reuters January 6, 2000 |
Personal computers makers leery of
putting all their chips in one basket, may learn a lesson
from Gateway Inc.'sproblems with its sole supplier of
microprocessors, Intel Corp. Intel's main rival in microprocessors, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., is expected to benefit from Intel's supply problems and will soon be named as a second source supplier to Gateway, analysts said Thursday. San Diego-based Gateway warned on Wednesday that it would report lower-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, citing supply problems with its key processors from Intel and a slowdown in corporate, government and education sales due to Y2K concerns. |
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Intel to sell Celeron-equipped info appliances to OEMsBy Robert Ristelhueber January 6, 2000 |
Intel Corp. this week joined the
Internet appliance parade, announcing plans to market
hardware and software by midyear under the Intel brand
name. Initial products will be based on the Celeron
processor and will run the Linux operating system. The Intel Web appliances will not be sold directly to consumers, but rather to telephone operating companies, Internet service providers and e-commerce retailers, according to Craig Miller, product marketing manager for the Home Products Group. Intel has begun shipping prototypes to several customers, including US West, NEC Corp. and an e-commerce division of Galeries Lafayette in France. They will add features of their own. |
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Ramping up Rambus memoryBy Joe Wilcox January 5, 2000 |
After devastating delays, production of
Rambus memory will ramp up significantly this year,
accounting for 16 percent of PC memory. According to a study conducted by Nikkei Market Access, and reported today by Nikkei BP AsiaBizTech, memory makers will ship about 270 million 128MB/144 MB Rambus DRAM chips in 2000, with four companies accounting for 75 percent of production. After several false starts, Rambus may finally be finding its footing. Intel's unexpected September delay of the 820 chipset, also known as Camino, caught many PC makers by surprise and nearly brought RDRAM production to a temporary halt. |
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Intel grapples with security glitch in serverBy Stephen Shankland January 5, 2000 |
Intel is closing a secret "back
door" on one of its special purpose server
appliances that could let an intruder delete files or
even take control of a user's email functions. The vulnerability applies to Intel's InBusiness Email Station, a single-purpose server appliance that the chip giant sells to customers who want to set up email service. In computer lingo, a "back door" is a secret way to access a computer. This particular back door was designed to let the manufacturer take over the server in the event the customer was having serious problems, Intel spokeswoman Micki Fuller said. Widespread knowledge of the door, however, raises security issues, she said. |
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Intel homes in on Chandler, Ariz., site for first 300-mm-wafer fabBy Jack Robertson January 6, 2000 |
Intel Corp. has rejected Fort Worth,
Texas, as the site for its first 300-mm-wafer production
fab in favor of Chandler, Ariz. An Intel spokesman today confirmed that "all the pre-qualification study" has been completed for building a 300-mm fab in Chandler, although no final decision has been made yet. The Fort Worth site has been bypassed for the time being and will remain on hold, the spokesman added. |
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The Register Files |
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800 MHz Athlon hits Intel in the faceBy Mike Magee January 6, 2000 |
Chip company AMD has confirmed the
release of an 800MHz Athlon, further compounding
embarrassment for Intel in the Megahertz Wars. Both IBM and Compaq will use the 800MHz part in systems they will sell. Sources close to the company's plans expect the .18 micron 800MHz microprocessor to become available to PC companies on the 10th of January in quantity. |
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Gateway to use AMD because of Intel chip famineBy Mike Magee January 6, 2000 |
Gateway has come clean on its plans to
use AMD microprocessors in its PCs, after issuing a
profits warning yesterday blaming shortages of Intel
components. The company said that it expects to post earnings for its fourth financial quarter that are less than expected, because of difficulties getting hold of enough Intel processors to satisfy demand. Those parts include 400MHz and 450MHz Celerons, as well as Coppermine .18 micron processors, some of which, as we reported the day after they were launched, were almost impossible to obtain. There was also a shortage of the popular BX chipset in autumn last year. |
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2000 is the year of the RambusBy Stephen Thackeray January 5, 2000 |
Direct Rambus DRAM could be in office
machines and consumer electronics as early as 2001 as
prices fall. By the end of this year, the high-speed next generation memory chip is expected to account for 16 per cent of the DRAM market, with 270 million units sold, according to a Nikkei Market Access survey. |
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Celerons and Linux to power Intel Web appliancesBy Mike Magee January 5, 2000 |
Intel will announce its plans for
consumer Web appliances at a conference in Las Vegas
today. The company is to sell appliances with the Intel logo to telecom operators and service providers, which will then sell them on to consumers. These are not PCs running any version of Windows, which is not good news for Microsoft, given Intel's undoubted ability to manufacture and sell its products. |
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AMD K6-III not dead, merely restingBy Mike Magee January 5, 2000 |
Rumours that AMD's K6-III is destined
for the chip gulag have been scotched by the company
today. Instead, AMD will roll out new variants of the K6-III during this year and will continue to develop the product, a representative of the firm has confirmed. But AMD has acknowledged that the part is not as popular in the retail market as either the K6-II or the Athlon. |
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Today's Related Stories |
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PC maker Gateway blasts Intel over processor suppliesBy Mark Hachman January 6, 2000 |
Gateway Inc., the third-largest PC maker
in the United States, criticized Intel Corp., its sole
microprocessor supplier, on Wednesday, blaming the chip
maker in part for Gateway's lower-than-expected earnings
in the final quarter of 1999. In a conference call held to issue an earnings warning, Gateway executives said Intel was unable to ship adequate supplies of low-end microprocessors during the fourth quarter, and strongly hinted that the company will begin to buy processors from another microprocessor supplier -- most likely Advanced Micro Devices Inc. -- within the next week or two. |
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AMD Rolls Out 800MHz Athlon Demos 1GHz systemBy Marcia Savage January 6, 1999 |
The ongoing megahertz battle between
Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. continued
Thursday with AMD's launch of an 800MHz Athlon processor. The introduction of the fastest Athlon chip comes on the heels of Intel's Dec. 20 launch of an 800MHz Pentium III processor. IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., and Compaq Computer Corp., Houston, both announced systems equipped with the new Athlon. |
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800MHz Athlon storms CESBy John G. Spooner January 5, 2000 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. on Thursday
will crank up the juice on its Athlon processor. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company, as expected, will introduce an 800MHz version of its Athlon processor at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The chip will be AMD's fastest to date, replacing the 750MHz Athlon, which was released in November. |
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AMD catches up to Intel with release of 800-MHz microprocessorBy Mark Hachman January 6, 2000 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has
introduced an 800-MHz version of its Athlon
microprocessor, joining Intel Corp. in the title of
having the fastest PC microprocessor on the market. With distinctions in actual performance becoming finer and finer as clock speeds increase, perhaps the most telling feature of AMD's device is its price-$849 in 1,000-unit lots. That's a couple of notches below the $851 at which Intel launched its 800-MHz Coppermine Dec. 20. |
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January 3, 2000 |
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Intel to unveil new low-powered mobile chipsBy Michael Kanellos December 29, 1999 |
Intel has confirmed the release date on
its energy-saving, and previously delayed, mobile Pentium
III processors that will narrow the performance gap
between desktops and notebook PCs. As reported earlier this month, the chip giant, along with a number of notebook manufacturers, will gather on Jan. 18 to show off notebooks containing Pentium III processors containing "SpeedStep" technology. Intel officials have now confirmed the date and the fact that the shindig will take place in San Francisco. |
See Today's Related Stories |
VIA acquires S3 stake for $146 millionBy Reuters December 24, 1999 |
Taiwan's VIA Technologies said today it
has agreed to increase its stake in S3 to 14.9 percent by
purchasing 10.8 million shares for $145.8 million, or
$13.5 per share. The investment followed VIA’s October move to buy 1.35 million shares, or 2.5 percent of S3, for $14.07 million. "S3 is a key partner to us in pursuing our business objectives," Chen Wen-Chi, president and chief executive of VIA, said in a statement. "In addition to the mutual opportunities for the PC market, we see substantial value in S3's communication and financial assets." |
See Today's Related Stories |
Rambus snubbed by Intel, while landing Kanadjian from SamsungBy Jack Robertson December 27, 1999 |
Rambus Inc., memory chip design firm,
got good news and bad news last week. Avo Kanadjian, veteran vice president of marketing for Samsung Semiconductor America Inc., has joined Rambus to head up its marketing. The downside is the failure of Intel Corp. to invite Rambus to join its Next Generation DRAM alliance of the Big Five dynamic-memory firms to help design a chip for the 2004-2005 time period. |
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Intel talking DRAMs with Big 5By David Lammers December 27, 1999 |
Although it would not offer details,
Intel Corp. has confirmed that it is talking with the
major memory manufacturers about next-generation DRAM
technology. The Intel-led discussions with the five
largest DRAM vendors are likely to focus on how to create
a consensus solution for the gigabit generation of DRAMs. Spokespeople at Micron Technology Inc. and Hitachi Ltd. separately confirmed reports that Intel is in discussions with Hyundai Microelectronics, Infineon Technologies, Samsung Electronics, Micron and the NEC-Hitachi DRAM joint venture. |
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Don't count Direct Rambus out yetDecember 30, 1999 |
As Intel is reportedly engaged in
consensus building with major DRAM makers on the
next-generation memory in PCs, the world's largest
chipmaker has distanced itself from partner Rambus
Technology. That change in position partly reflects
delays and costly mistakes during 1999 surrounding
Intel's Camino chipset, once expected to make Direct
Rambus the mainstream memory in desktop PCs starting next
year. In addition, Electronic Business Asia more recently
broke news internationally about the cancellation of the
Greendale chipset, which would have enabled Direct Rambus
in notebook PCs. Intel's grand scheme to implement Rambus in PCs may be in a shambles now, but it's still to early to count Direct RDRAM out entirely. |
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Brainiacs,
Speed Demons, and Farewell
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As my final editorial for this august
publication, I would like to reflect on how the industry
has changed--and in some ways stayed the same--since one
of my earliest editorials, discussing Brainiacs and Speed
Demons. At that time, Digital's brand-new Alpha line, HP's PA-RISC, and the MIPS R4000 strove for high clock speeds, while IBM (Power), Sun (SuperSparc), and Motorola (88110) focused on high-IPC (instruction per cycle) designs. In 1993, Speed Demons used simple scalar or two-issue designs running at 100 to 200 MHz in state-of-the-art 0.8-micron IC processes; Brainiacs could issue three or four instructions per cycle but at no more than 66 MHz. |
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The Register Files |
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Big Q claims Alpha thrashes Itanium-MercedBy Mike Magee December 28, 1999 |
Over the festive season, Compaq has seen
fit to post a document on its Web site which compares and
contrasts the performance of its flagship 64-bit
processor with Intel's up-and-coming Merced Itanium. And, according to the Adobe PDF document entitled Alpha and IA64, any dreams of world domination Intel may have with such 64-bit architecture are just that, dreams. The document cites facts, figures and benchmarketing to demonstrate that pound for pound, the Alpha outperforms Intel architecture. One soundbyte says: "Alpha will be superior to IA64 in commercial applications". |
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1GHz nub of Intel, AMD, Compaq question next yearDecember 31, 1999 |
Well, my lovelies, if the world still
exists tomorrow morning, you can be sure that the
question occupying most people's minds will be which chip
company will be first to market with a 1GHz processor. My runes show, unquestionably, that Advanced Micro Devices, headed up by that nice Jerry Sanders III, will definitely be the first, with .18 micron Athlons already available and copper interconnect technology in the works. |
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Intel best company in cosmosBy Mike Magee December 28, 1999 |
It must be a little worrying for any of
Intel's 68,000 or so employees worldwide when one of the
local bosses stands up and tells a journalist what a
great employer it is. Excuse our cynicism, but generally this seems to happen just before a big company gives bad news to its employees. Yesterday's edition of the Malaysia Star featured an interview with Intel local boss Wong Siew Hai, saying that his company has sent 1,000 people abroad to re-train over recent years, mostly engineers. |
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See Today's Related Stories |
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Via Technologies increases its stake in S3 to 14.9%December 27, 1999 |
Via Technologies Inc. has increased its
equity position in graphics chip maker S3 Inc. to 14.9%
by purchasing approximately 10.8 million shares at $13.50
per share, the company reported here on Friday. In November, the two companies announced a joint venture to produce graphics and core logic chip sets. This investment is intended to further strengthen the partnership and collaboration between S3 and Via, the companies said. |
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600 MHz mobile Pentium III on the wayBy John G. Spooner December 29, 1999 |
Notebook PCs will get more power and
improved power management in January with the release of
a mobile Pentium III processor from Intel Corp. But Intel's chief rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., will not be far behind in offering similar technology. The new technology will allow Intel to increase chip speed without compromising battery life. |
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