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| Top Stories for January 14, 2000 (details below) | |
| EE Times | Transmeta set to introduce Crusoe processor |
| Electronic Business Asia | VIA Technologies ships chipset supporting AMD Athlon CPU |
| eFront Beta News | Intel's SpeedStep To Push Battery Life |
| Semiconductor Business News | Intel plans 47% increase in capital spending to $5 billion this year |
| EE Times | CompactPCI group looks to cure hot-swap hiccup |
| InformationWeek | Intel's Record 4Q Has Wall Street Eating Its Words |
| The Register Files | |
| The Register | Taiwan semi firms left with no easy options |
| Today's Related Stories | |
| San Jose Mercury News | Intel has huge quarter Powerhouse results: Traditional product lines pace sales and profit, but the Internet, communications are keys for the future. |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of January 9, 2000 |
Older News |
January 14, 2000 |
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Transmeta set to introduce Crusoe processorBy Alexander Wolfe January 13, 2000 |
The mystery surrounding the
much-anticipated processor launch by Transmeta Corp. will
finally unravel next Wednesday (Jan. 19). Industry sources say they believe the company will unveil an embedded-class very-long-instruction-word (VLIW) processor, called Crusoe, which will be showcased in a handheld Web pad or similar downsized browser equipped with an embedded version of the Linux operating system. The Web pad will have been designed with an unspecified partner, those sources speculated. |
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VIA Technologies ships chipset supporting AMD Athlon CPUJanuary 13, 2000 |
Further news from VIA Technologies Inc is commencement of volume shipments of its VIA Apollo KX133 chipset. This greatly expands the availability of mainboards optimized for the AMD Athlon CPU, a processor proving competitive with Intel's higher-end Pentiums. The VIA Apollo KX133 chipset supports 4X AGP graphics and PC133 memory, while also enabling motherboard manufacturers to reduce costs by building four-layer mainboards in smaller, more compact form factors. A two-chip set consisting of the VT8371 North Bridge and VT82C686A "Super" South Bridge, the KX133 includes such performance enhancing features as support for ATA-66 and the AMD Athlon frontside system bus architecture. The Athlon frontside bus is based on Alpha EV6 technology and operates at 200 MHz. | |
Intel's SpeedStep To Push Battery LifeBy Nate Mook January 13th, 2000 |
Intel Corp. next week will unveil its
new "SpeedStep" chips for mobile PCs, claimed
to automatically power down for longer battery
performance. US reports say SpeedStep will be used on two new Pentium III mobile processors. The first is said to run at 650MHz when the notebook is plugged into AC power and at 500MHz when running on a battery. The second runs at 600MHz on AC and 500MHz on battery. |
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Intel plans 47% increase in capital spending to $5 billion this yearBy J. Robert Lineback January 13, 2000 |
While posting record fourth-quarter
results today, Intel Corp. announced plans to increase
capital spending 47% to $5.0 billion in 2000 from $3.4
billion in 1999. The world's largest chip maker also said
it will spend $3.8 billion on R&D this year, an
increase of 22.6% over $3.1 billion in 1999. Intel is planning to make those big investments after recording record revenues of $8.2 billion in the fourth quarter and beating Wall Street's estimates for earnings in the period, ended Dec. 25. Intel's fourth-quarter revenues grew 8% from $7.6 billion in the same period a year ago. Including acquisition-related costs, Intel's net income was up 2% to $2.12 billion compared to $2.06 billion in the 1998 period. |
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CompactPCI group looks to cure hot-swap hiccupBy David Lieberman January 13, 2000 |
Supporters of the CompactPCI bus call
some recent hot-swap hiccups rare and easily remedied,
but at least one critic says they could undermine
confidence in the bus for high-availability applications. The PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG), based here, moved earlier this week to revise the CompactPCI Hot Swap spec by forming a technical committee to look at 3.3-volt operation and the "challenges with pin bouncing." Then Motorola Computer Group (MCG; Tempe, Ariz.) detailed those challenges for PICMG members. |
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Intel's Record 4Q Has Wall Street Eating Its WordsBy Paul McDougall January 13, 2000 |
Intel trounced Wall Street estimates
Thursday, posting record quarterly and annual revenues. For its fourth quarter, the company posted revenues of $8.2 billion, up 8 percent from the same period a year ago. Net income for the quarter, excluding acquisition costs, was $2.4 billion, up 15 percent from last year. That translates to earnings of 69 cents per share, well above a First Call survey that predicted earnings of 63 cents per share. |
See Today's Related Stories |
The Register |
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Taiwan semi firms left with no easy optionsBy Simon Burns January 13, 2000 |
After a recent flurry of expansion,
Taiwan's chip makers have no easy options left as they
try to increase capacity, analysts say. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) are the world's largest contract chip manufacturers. Despite a steady expansion program, a booming market has left them unable to meet demand. Both companies are building new facilities as rapidly as possible, but are facing long-term production shortfalls. |
|
Today's Related Stories |
||
Intel
has huge quarter
|
After two years of somewhat ho-hum
results, Intel Corp. reported a powerhouse of a fourth
quarter Thursday fueled by record sales of its
traditional microprocessor and memory product lines, but
the company left little doubt that its future is
increasingly dependent on its move into the Internet and
communications. Intel reported record revenues of $8.2 billion, and earnings -- excluding write-offs associated with four acquisitions made during the quarter -- were $2.4 billion, or 69 cents per share. That easily beat Wall Street's consensus estimate of 63 cents per share. |
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January 13, 2000 |
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Two-year shortage of DRAMs looms after Q2, says DataquestBy J. Robert Lineback January 12, 2000 |
After a brief return to excess capacity
in DRAMs at the start of 2000, demand for memory will
surpass the world's supply in the second quarter and a
shortage will exist for the next two years, predicted
Dataquest during a forecasting session here. The shortage will trigger a new round of capital investments by DRAM manufacturers, which are expected to increase spending on memory plants to $16.4 billion in 2002 compared to about $8 billion in 2000, said analyst Klaus-Dieter Rinnen, associate director of semiconductor manufacturing analysis at Dataquest. At the low point in the last chip recession, DRAM companies only invested $4.1 billion in 1998--meaning that by 2002 manufacturers are expected to increase capital spending 300%, said Rinnen at the annual Industry Strategy Symposium. |
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Intel Rides Into 4Q On High HopesBy Reuters January 12, 2000 |
Shares of Intel jumped again on
Wednesday, upalmost 13 percent this week, amid analysts'
expectations for solid fourth quarter earnings on
Thursday, and an even better full year 2000. Intel shares closed at 91 1/4, up 1 9/16 after touching 94 3/4 and briefly topping its year-high price in active trading on the Nasdaq. The company is expected to report fourth quarter earnings after the U.S. stock markets close on Thursday. |
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Intel, AMD earnings look bright but questions loom for 2000By Michael Kanellos January 12, 2000 |
The fourth quarter was a brutally
competitive time for the two main microprocessor
manufacturers, but both Intel and AMD are expected to
report fairly strong earnings. What follows in 2000 remains to be seen. Despite product delays and an acceleration in processor speeds, Intel is expected to report earnings of 63 cents a share, or $2.2 billion, when it reports its numbers after the market closes tomorrow, according to a consensus estimate from First Call. For the year, this means net income of around $7.7 billion, an increase of more than 24 percent over 1998, or $2.23 in earnings per share. Annual revenues are expected to come in at over $29 billion. |
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Intel announces volume production of 800-MHz Coppermine processorBy Mark Hachman January 12, 2000 |
Intel Corp. today announced the first of
its Coppermine microprocessors in the Xeon family, an
800-MHz product for workstations and servers. The chip, which integrates 256 kilobytes of on-chip cache, is designed for "two-way" systems that pair two processors, either in traditional minitower configurations or in new rack-mounted chassis. Existing Xeon products for 4-, 8-, 16-, and 64-way systems use up to 2 megabytes of discrete Level 2 cache for increased performance. Anthony Ambrose, director of marketing for IA-32 products at Intel's Microprocessor Division, said similar Coppermine products would be forthcoming during 2000. "It's going to be a busy year," he promised. |
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January 12, 2000 |
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Intel readies 'SpeedStep' mobile chips, cuts Celeron pricesBy Carmen Nobel January 11, 2000 |
Intel Corp. next Tuesday is expected to
announce the first mobile chips that make use of the
SpeedStep technology for saving battery life in notebook
PCs. The Santa Clara, Calif., company is introducing two new Pentium III chips next week, according to sources. The first runs at 650MHz when the notebook is plugged into an outlet or a docking station and at 500MHz when running on a battery. The second runs at a maximum of 600MHz and powers down to 500MHz on battery, the sources said. |
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AMD gaining ground with AthlonBy John G. Spooner January 10, 2000 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. continues to
gain ground in its battle to win acceptance for its
Athlon chip among big-name PC makers. As reported earlier, Gateway Inc. (NYSE: GTW) announced Monday it will offer the Athlon processor in a new line of computers, the Select PC. AMD (NYSE: AMD) also announced Monday that the Athlon chip has gained a tiny foothold in the long, hard climb into the corporate market, with PC vendor Pionex Elite offering the chip in desktops and workstations aimed at corporations. |
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VIA begins shipping Apollo chipsetBy Jack Robertson January 10, 2000 |
VIA Technologies Inc. said today the
company is shipping production quantities of its Apollo
KX133 chipset to connect the Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Athlon processor with PC133 SDRAM memory. The VIA chipset
also supports AGP 4X graphics for Athlon. Taiwan-based VIA also builds the only PC133 chipset for Intel Corp. processors. Intel this month is expected to start sampling its Solano PC133 chipset, which will start production next quarter and will compete with the VIA chipsets for both Intel and AMD processors. |
|
The Register |
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Transmeta, AMD to talk 64-bit turkey at chipfestBy Mike Magee January 10, 2000 |
A chip conference held in California at
the end of this month is expected to reveal details of
Transmeta's long awaited Crusoe offering, the organisers
have said. And the Platform Technology and Strategy Conference will also roll out execs from AMD who are expected to give further details of their plans for the 64-bit microprocessor currently codenamed "Sledgehammer". According to the organisers, the conference will also reveal details of the DDR (double data rate) memory standard, which Intel is expected to formally support for over the next week or so. |
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Intel comes clean on PC COM direct siteBy Mike Magee January 10, 2000 |
Chip giant Intel has clarified its
position on the PC COM direct sales site in Singapore. The company, this morning, admitted that the domain name was owned by Intel, as first revealed here at the end of last week, but was set up in collaboration with a group of Singapore resellers. A representative said: "This is an Intel website. It's a showcase site we set up after being approached by channel partners in Singapore who wanted to get online." |
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UMC rumoured to take over little SiSBy Mike Magee January 11, 2000 |
Chipset manufacturer SiS is denying
reports published in Taiwan that UMC, one of the
country's larger semiconductor foundries is interested in
acquiring it. The speculation was fostered after TSMC snapped up a rival foundry, WSMC, at the end of last week. UMC is second only to TSMC in size on the island. |
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January 10, 2000 |
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Gateway expected back in AMD camp next weekBy Michael Kanellos January 7, 2000 |
Gateway will resume using processors
from Advanced Micro Devices, according to people familiar
with the PC maker's plans, opening up another chapter in
one of the long-running soap operas of the computer
world. On Monday, or soon after that, Gateway is expected to announce that it will once again incorporate AMD's chips in its consumer PCs, including AMD's touted Athlon processor. The AMD-based systems may not be available the same day as the announcement, however, these people indicated. |
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Gateway resurrects AMD-powered PCsBy John Spooner January 7, 2000 |
Gateway Inc. and Advanced Micro Devices
Inc. are on again. On Monday, Gateway (NYSE: GTW) will resurrect its Gateway Select line of PCs with new models that offer AMD's Athlon processor. The Select PC line, for consumers and small businesses, will offer a range of Athlon speeds, sources said. However, details on the exact configurations and pricing were not available at press time. |
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Intel To Sell Celeron-Equipped AppliancesBy Robert Ristelhueber January 7, 2000 |
Intel 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, ISPs, 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 U S West, NEC, and an e-commerce division of France's Galeries Lafayette. They will each add their own features to the units. |
|
The Register |
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Intel-AMD speed war megahurts too muchBy Mike Magee January 7, 2000 |
x.86 companies AMD and Intel will play
hop,skip and jump for the whole of this year, with the
object of desire apparently to have the highest clock
speed emblazoned on their, and their customers' products. But there is a danger that if you don't work for Intel and AMD, you're likely to be deluded not only by the "my chip is faster than yours" claims, column inches in the press, and the patriotic fervour of some folk who seem to think microprocessor companies are soccer teams. |
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Day by day: Intel shares drop $5, AMD gains $2By Mike Magee January 7, 2000 |
News that Gateway would second source
AMD processors after the company laid into Intel (INTC)
for an inability to supply enough CPUs saw Chimpzilla's
(AMD) shares rise by $2, day on day, on Wall Street
yesterday. While AMD's stock rose, Chipzilla's fell by nearly $5 compared to the day before. Rambus Ink (RMBS), meanwhile shot up by $9 to close at $891/16, compared to the previous days close of play $801/2. |
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