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| Top Stories for November 16, 2000 (details below) | |
| eWEEK | IBM chides Intel for ignoring mobile needs |
| ZDNet News | Intel set to flip Pentium 4 switch |
| Electronic Buyers' News | Rambus accused of ITC 'judge shopping' in DRAM patent complaint |
| The Register Files | |
| The Register | Intel confirms P4 license talks |
| The Register | ALi DDR chipsets hit full swing in December |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of November 12, 2000 |
Older News |
| November 16, 2000 | ||
IBM chides Intel for ignoring mobile needsBy Ken Popovich November 15, 2000 |
While IBM recently rejected using a Transmeta Corp. chip in an upcoming notebook, Big Blue admits it's grateful to the Silicon Valley upstart for accomplishing something it had been unable to do -- spur Intel Corp. to produce low-power processors for notebooks.
According to an IBM executive, the computer maker had long been urging processor makers, including main chip supplier Intel, to develop low-power processors that could enable longer battery life. But those appeals went largely unheeded until Transmeta "shook up the industry" when it unveiled its low-voltage Crusoe chip in January. |
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Intel set to flip Pentium 4 switchBy John G. Spooner November 14, 2000 |
Monday is the day Intel will launch its screaming-fast Pentium 4. And officials say the chips could reach the mass market by late 2001.
It's official. Intel Corp. confirmed Tuesday it will launch the new Pentium 4 chip next Monday. And it unveiled aggressive plans to transition from Pentium III to Pentium 4 desktops by late 2001. Although the chip maker won't make Pentium 4 pricing and performance data available until the Monday launch, speaking here at Comdex/Fall Intel officials outlined the company's fast-track plans for the new processor, which include committing a large amount of manufacturing capacity, cutting prices and licensing Pentium 4 technology to third-party chip set vendors. |
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Rambus accused of ITC 'judge shopping' in DRAM patent complaintBy Jack Robertson November 15, 2000 |
Rambus Inc. was reprimanded for "blatant judge shopping" in an official ruling at the U.S. International Trade Commission and restrictions imposed on the DRAM designer if it ever filed another synchronous DRAM patent complaint at the trade body.
ITC Administrative Law Judge Sidney Harris ruled that when Rambus abruptly withdrew its patent violation case against Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. assigned to him, the company was engaged in "judge shopping" because the firm didn't want him to handle the case. Legal sources said Harris has a reputation for being a tough magistrate and has been known frequently to rule against patents of firms filing complaints. |
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The Register Files |
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Intel confirms P4 license talksBy Andrew Thomas November 15, 2000 |
Intel veep Paul Otellini, boss of Chipzilla's Architecture group, confirmed at Comdex that the company is in talks to license the P4 system bus to other chipset vendors.
It's unlikely anyone else would want to build another RDRAM version to rival Intel's own i850 Tehama, so that means DDR SDRAM. Otellini stated that Intel's own chipsets for the Pentium 4 will be Rambus-only until the back end of next year, adding: "We are in discussions with a number of third-party vendors on bus licenses." |
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ALi DDR chipsets hit full swing in DecemberBy Drew Cullen November 15, 2000 |
ALi is to pump up out volume production of DDR SDRAM chipsets for both Athlon and Pentium III platforms in December.
At Comdex, the company is demoing ALiMAGiK1/MobileMAGiK1 support for AMD Athlon and Duron CPUs and Aladdin Pro 5/Aladdin Pro 5M support for Intel Pentium III. |
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| November 15, 2000 | ||
Chipzilla takes a beatingNovember 9, 2000 |
The fall in Intel’s share price has been overdone. But challenges to the chip-making giant’s dominance are mounting.
Craig Barrett, the craggy-faced 61-year-old chief executive of Intel, is still feeling grumpy about the hammering given to the company’s shares in late September. Some 40% was wiped off the market capitalisation of the world’s biggest semiconductor maker, thanks to a guarded warning some weeks earlier that slowing demand for new PCs in Europe might have a slightly adverse impact on Intel’s third quarter revenues. Mr Barrett says: “Maybe it’s my engineer’s attitude. But how can market value change by $50 billion or $100 billion in a day?” |
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Intel scraps server appliance brandBy Joe Wilcox November 14, 2000 |
Intel unexpectedly has abandoned its brand of NetStructure server appliances.
The chip giant launched NetStructure in February but quickly ran afoul of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers such as Compaq Computer and Dell Computer, which use Intel processors in competing products. "When we identified this opportunity, most of our big OEM customers were not focused on that market segment," Intel spokesman Tom Beerman said Tuesday. "Since that time, our traditional OEM customers and others...have shown more interest in that space." |
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Intel may license Pentium 4 technology for chipsetsBy Michael Kanellos November 14, 2000 |
Intel is negotiating to license elements of the technology for its new Pentium 4 processor to chipset manufacturers to ensure a smoother supply of the necessary parts.
Paul Otellini, general manager of Intel's Architecture Group, said during a briefing at the Comdex trade show that the company is discussing licensing the system bus of the Pentium 4 to third-party chipset makers. If such deals are struck, it would likely give PC makers an opportunity to build Pentium 4 PCs with Double Data Rate (DDR) DRAM, rather than more expensive Rambus memory, in the first half of next year. |
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Transmeta promises to pump up the powerBy John G. Spooner November 14, 2000 |
Under fire for its first crop of Crusoe chips, Transmeta says it will boost power and cut battery consumption with new products.
Transmeta Corp., under fire from some critics for chips seen as underpowered, hopes to eradicate that complaint with its next-generation Crusoe 2.0. After less than a year in the market the startup chip maker is already at work on its next processor, with the aim of continuing to reduce power consumption while pushing the envelope on performance. |
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Transmeta reaffirms commitment to 'true mobility'By Dan Neel November 14, 2000 |
Undaunted by last week's news that both Compaq and IBM would wait before including the Crusoe processor in their mobile offerings, officials for Transmeta announced here at Comdex Tuesday support from several Japanese vendors, and at the same time offered a development strategy that should increase the performance of Crusoe every six months.
The company also revealed that in 2002 it will introduce the "New Crusoe," which will possess a "new architecture, twice the performance of current Crusoe chips, and consume 50 percent less power," said Ed Mckernan, the director of marketing for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Transmeta. |
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Transmeta to use TSMC for 0.18- and 0.13-micron processorsBy Mark Hachman November 14, 2000 |
During the Comdex trade show here, Transmeta Corp.'s chief executive officer confirmed that the microprocessor startup has entered into a foundry deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., which will process chips with 0.18- and 0.13-micron technology. Until now, IBM Corp. has been Transmeta's sole foundry for processed wafers.
Transmeta CEO David Ditzel said TSMC will help his company reach 700-MHz clock speeds with a 0.18-micron process in the first half of 2001. In the second half of next year, TSMC will produce 800- or 900-MHz chips for Transmeta, using the foundry company's new 0.13-micron process technology, Ditzel said. |
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The Register Files |
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AMD demos 1.5GHz AthlonBy Andrew Thomas November 14, 2000 |
AMD has an Athlon running at 1.5GHz at Comdex, but the company still says production Palomino chips will only hit this speed sometime in Q2 next year, by which time Intel's P4 will be running at over 2GHz.
You can check out a picture of this week's World's Fastest Processor over at German hardware site TecChannel. |
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AMD firms up roadmap detailsBy Andrew Thomas November 14, 2000 |
Chimpzilla now says it won't have a 2GHz processor on the market until the 64-bit ClawHammer arrives some time in the first half of 2002 - a full year after Intel's P4 hits the same speed. The four and eight-way server variant, SledgeHammer, will sample in Q1 2002 and go into production in Q2.
The company showed an Athlon running at 1.5GHz at Comdex earlier today, but until the end of this year, a 1200/266 Athlon will still be top of the AMD heap. This should increase to 1333MHz in Q1, 1.5GHz in Q2, 1.7 sometime in the second half of the year, finally reaching 2GHz or more in 2002. |
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Transmeta talks 256-bit CrusoeBy Andrew Orlowski November 14, 2000 |
The Transmeta PCs on show at Comdex confirmed that the Japanese are leading with designs that optimise around battery life, in contrast to the more conservative Asian assemblers. Hitachi's thin Flora uses a
li-poly battery in the lid, rather the base of the unit, an approach mirrored by Casio. The latter offers a choice of two removable batteries, with the ten hour option protruding by about an inch. With the battery in the screen half of the PC, the base can be reduced to less than an inch thickness, and the designers have moved the ports from the rear to the side of the units.
Performance wise, there's a slight stickiness when some apps are run for the first time, but it's almost negligible. |
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Crusoe a loser in wrong tree bark-a-thonBy Andrew Thomas November 14, 2000 |
Transmeta's code morphing technology may be terribly elegant, and LongRun power management may be more sophisticated than either Intel's SpeedStep or AMD's PowerNow, but the sad fact is that elegance and sophistication do not a world-beating product make.
Elegance, schmelegance |
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| November 14, 2000 | ||
AMD Drops MustangBy Mark Hachman November 11, 2000 |
Officials at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. confirmed Friday that the chipmaker has eliminated the Mustang microprocessor from its future plans, but said the firm still plans to field a chip for workstations and servers.
“Mustang isn't currently on our roadmap,” said a spokesman for AMD, Sunnyvale, Calif. (stock: AMD). “But we think that the AMD-760 MP chipset, with its dual-processor capability, will be an excellent offering for the server market.” |
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AMD delays processors, scraps server chipBy Michael Kanellos November 13, 2000 |
Advanced Micro Devices has dropped a chip for servers and delayed the release of some high-speed versions of its flagship Athlon processor as the company faces growing pains.
Executives at the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chipmaker also confirmed AMD has decided not to release "Mustang," a version of Athlon for multiprocessor servers and workstations. On the desktop front, AMD also has pushed back the release of a 1.5-GHz version of Athlon until mid-2001, rather than in the first quarter as was originally expected. By then, rival Intel will be preparing a 2-GHz version of the Pentium 4. |
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AMD readies 64-bit Hammer MPU, predicts flash price increase in 2001By Mark Hachman November 10, 2000 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc here laid out its plans for 2001, when it will introduce new Athlon products and bring 64-bit computing to the desktop PC. A previously undisclosed derivative of the company's 64-bit Hammer processor is being designed for the desktop PC and low-end servers, executives said at the company's fall analyst meeting in Sunnyvale on Thursday.
AMD also forecast that flash prices will steadily increase throughout 2001. However, according to a roadmap revealed by company executives, derivatives of the company's flagship Athlon microprocessor may be slower in clock speed than the Pentium 4 from Intel Corp. |
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Transmeta Reveals Power-Saving Software, SiliconMark Hachman |
Only Asian OEMS have signed on to use Transmeta Corp.'s chip, so the once-secretive company is outlining a more specific roadmap, new partners, and the new iteration of its code-morphing software.
Partly to sway the U.S. PC council, Transmeta, Santa Clara, Calif., disclosed version 4.2 of its code-morphing software (CMS), which the company claims cuts the power necessary to run most typical applications by about 20 percent compared to version 4.1. |
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Transmeta, Intel in a battle for notebooksBy Michael Kanellos November 13, 2000 |
Transmeta and Intel will slug it out next year with a slew of low-powered chips for notebooks.
In the first quarter of next year, Transmeta announced Monday, it will release version 4.2 of its code-morphing software that significantly reduces processor power consumption. Code-morphing software is a software layer on top of a chip that picks up a number of the duties that would normally be handled by the chip itself and thereby cuts power consumption. |
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Gateway deal caps wild week for TransmetaBy Bruce Gain November 10, 2000 |
The drama involving Transmeta Corp. this week almost matched that of the Bush-Gore contest. Rebounding from the recent loss of a key IBM Corp. design win, the company launched a successful public offering even as renewed skepticism surfaced over the fate of the low-power microprocessor maker.
Amid the flurry of publicity, Transmeta today teamed with Gateway Inc. to announce an Internet “table top” appliance featuring a Transmeta Crusoe processor and a Broadcom Corp. broadband modem chip. |
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DDR Memory Modules ValidatedBy Steven Fyffe November 10, 2000 |
Team DDR claims to be close to completing the last part of the system puzzle, with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) giving the green light to seven double data rate memory modules from three separate manufacturers.
DDR memory modules (DIMMs) from NEC Corp., Infineon Technologies AG and Samsung Semiconductor Inc. have been validated for use with AMD’s 760 chipset, paving the way for a roll-out of systems based on AMD’s much anticipated high-end Athlon processor. |
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Willamette margins may crimp Intel's profitsBy Jack Robertson November 13, 2000 |
Intel Corp.'s long-awaited Willamette-class Pentium 4 processor is slated to launch next week, but what was once painted as a high-margin MPU may prove to be something of a profit damper for the company.
Expected to steal back the clock-speed crown from Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s Athlon, the 1.5-MHz dual-channel processor is aimed at the workstation and upper-end desktop-PC markets. The IA-32 design, the first new Intel architecture in five years, includes a quad-pumped 400-MHz processor bus, a deep 20-stage pipeline, and a complex NetBurst design for boosting execution of instructions per second. |
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Intel confirms low-end 815 chipsetBy Jack Robertson November 13, 2000 |
Intel Corp. confirmed today an earlier EBN report that it is introducing a
special 815EP chipset that only includes external graphics capability. By
disabling the integrated graphics function that the other 815 versions have,
the new version will sell for about 10 percent lower price than the current
815e.
Intel said in quantities of 1000 the 815ep is priced at $34.50 each. The 815EP was quietly introduced on an Intel web site: http://developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/815ep The firm made no press announcement of the new chipset version, with a spokeswoman explaining that the 815ep would primarily be of interest to game and graphic application developers who want the external graphics capability without paying extra for integrated graphics they don't need. |
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The Register Files |
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Intel 'Going for AMD's balls'By Andrew Thomas November 13, 2000 |
Geeks rushing to buy early P4s at marked up prices are going to look pretty dumb come January when Intel's Flagchip will hit 2GHz. The chip is not scheduled to launch for another week (at 1.4 and 1.5GHz), but a number of retailers are already offering the part for sale.
Pentium 4 yields are 'excellent', Intel sources told The Register today and the chip will hit 2GHz in January - up to three months earlier than planned. |
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Taiwan DRAM gang ditches RambusBy Tony Smith November 9, 2000 |
A trio of Taiwanese memory manufacturers have dumped Rambus production, Taiwan newspaper the Commercial Times has reported.
Winbond Electronics, Promos Technologies and Powerchip Semiconductor all cited their doubts over the future of the Direct DRAM market as the main motivation for their decision to end production. Winbond said that production would be "indefinitely postponed" because demand from RDRAM parts was drying up. It noted that Toshiba and Sony were requiring less and less RDRAM. |
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Rambus to take 40 per cent of DRAM biz - presidentBy Tony Smith November 13, 2000 |
Rambus' Direct DRAM memory technology will account for 40 per cent of the memory market within the next three years, the company president has claimed.
He also pledged that RDRAM, long one of the more expensive memory options, would come down in price, thanks to new development work carried out by Rambus. Speaking at the opening of Rambus' Taiwan operation, Rambus president Dave Mooring said the arrival of Chipzilla's Pentium 4 later this month would catapult RDRAM into the forefront of the memory market, where it would become a "core standard", according to Taiwan business daily Commercial Times. |
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AMD's Mustang is dog foodBy Andrew Thomas November 13, 2000 |
Chimpzilla has brought out the humane killer for its planned Mustang processor. The company declined to comment on the specifics of its demise, but an inability to support a L2 cache bigger than 1MB had called into question its suitability for high-end server use.
Mustang was planned as an enhanced version of the Athlon processor with reduced core size, support for mobile features, lower power requirements and a large on-die L2 cache. The 0.18 micron copper part was aimed at the high-performance server/workstation market, value/performance desktop, and mobile markets. |
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Athlon sales outpace fabs, as AMD plans desktop HammerBy Andrew Thomas November 10, 2000 |
AMD will sell out Athlon production this quarter, Jerry Sanders told analysts yesterday. This could be taken as a good or bad thing. On one
hand, having people clamouring to buy your flagchip ™ product is always nice, but what it actually means is that Chimpzilla simply doesn't have enough production capacity.
And little Duron is also encountering problems of its own, added the CEO, in that it may be part of the steepest ramp of a new product in AMD's history, but its success has been tempered by a lack of integrated chipset support. Production of VIA's new KM133 chipset should begin next month, Sanders said. |
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