x86 Weekly News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of August 10, 1998 |
Older News |
August 14, 1998 | ||
New package for Pentium IIBy Michael Kanellos August 14, 1998 |
Starting in the fourth quarter, Intel
will begin to deliver the Pentium II processor in a new
package that will allow it to push chip speeds to 500 MHz
and beyond. The plastic Pentium II cartridge--slightly smaller than a cassette tape case--used inside computers today will become smaller with the new design, according to an Intel spokesman. Most of the changes, however, are not cosmetic but substantive internal modifications that affect the chip's performance. |
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Shortage of slower Pentium II chips results from shift to 0.25-micron processBy Mark Hachman August 13, 1998 |
A shortage of low-end Pentium II
microprocessors has caused an increase in chip prices
which may last until late in the third quarter, according
to an Intel Corp. spokesman here. Rumors floating about Wall Street this week said Intel was experiencing production problems, but analysts and the Santa Clara company dismissed those reports as being untrue. However, analysts said an increase in processor prices was not related to higher demand for the slower-speed grade Pentium II products. |
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Low-End Pentium II Shortage May Last Through 3QBy Mark Hachman August 13, 1998 |
A shortage of low-end Pentium II
microprocessors that has prompted an uptick in chip
prices may last until late in the third quarter, an Intel
Corp. spokesman said. Rumors floating about Wall Street this week said that Intel was itself experiencing production problems, a charge analysts and a company spokesman said was not true. But analysts also cautioned that the rise in prices did not signal a corresponding rise in demand. |
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Intel sees growth in Latin AmericaBy Reuters August 14, 1998 |
The head of U.S. microchip giant Intel
said in Argentina yesterday that he saw good growth
possibilities in Latin America for the industry. "Latin America has a small volume still today. But with a 450 million population in South and Central America, there is the potential [for Latin America] to be as big a consuming area as the United States eventually," Craig Barrett said. |
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August 13, 1998 | ||
National Semiconductor Reverses Position, Predicts Significant LossBy Mark Hachman August 13, 1998 |
National Semiconductor reversed course
from its earlier optimistic forecasts, this week
predicting a "significant net loss" during the
second half of 1998. In management commentary accompanying the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker's fiscal 1998 annual report, National adopted a significantly more pessimistic stance towards the same numbers the company first reported in June. Now, National predicts that its financial performance through the end of the calendar year will be affected by the growing trend towards sub-$1,000 PCs and a slowdown in chip orders. The documents were filed this past Monday. |
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Intel
gets egg on face over Xeon delay
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Intel has now admitted that its 450MHz
CPUs for four way servers is now likely to be delayed
until the first quarter of next year. That follows blunt
assertions on Monday of this week that there were no
problems with the platform. An Intel representative said today: "This isn't a problem as such. The 450MHz for the workstation platform is on schedule for the second half of this year but now extra validation and OEM schedules mean that it will be delayed." |
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Samsung to produce for RambusBy Reuters August 11, 1998 |
Chipmaker Samsung Electronics said today
it had completed development of the 64-megabit Rambus
memory module and was set to begin mass-producing the
device. The company said it has shipped samples to major semiconductor and PC makers such as Intel, Compaq Computer, and Dell Computer. A Samsung statement said major PC makers were expected to replace synchronous dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) with faster chips, creating a big demand for Rambus DRAM modules. |
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August 12, 1998 | ||
Intel Says Xeon Needs More WorkBy Mark Hachman August 11, 1998 |
Concerned with the Xeon's performance in
four-way servers, Intel will delay the launch of specific
450-MHz microprocessors until the first quarter of 1999. Although Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel will ship the 450-MHz Pentium II microprocessors on schedule, the 450-MHz Xeon with 1 and 2 megabytes of Level 2 cache will be held for further testing, an Intel spokesman said. Both chips will be delayed from the fourth quarter until the first quarter 1999. |
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Samsung begins shipments of Rambus memory modulesAugust 11, 1998 |
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. here today
announced it has begun volume shipments of
next-generation 64-Mbit in-line memory modules based on
an architecture promoted by Rambus Inc. The Korean chip maker said it is now delivering Rambus in-line memory modules (RIMMs) to Intel Corp., Compaq Computer Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. after completing development on the product in July. Currently, Samsung is producing 100,000 modules a month, and it plans to increase its output to 1 million a month by the middle of 1999. |
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August 11, 1998 | ||
450-MHz Xeon delayed againBy Michael Kanellos August 10, 1998 |
Intel will put off releasing the 450-MHz
Xeon chip for 4-processor servers until the first part of
next year, although the chip for use in 1- or 2-processor
workstations and servers will come out later this year. This latest delay will serve to allow more testing and product validation, according to the company. "We took a look at the validation process and decided to extend it," an Intel spokeswoman said. |
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Intel to ship final OverDrive upgrade processorsBy Lisa DiCarlo August, 10, 1998 |
In a chip upgrade swan song, Intel Corp.
next week will release its final OverDrive upgrade
processors. The company will introduce two Pentium II OverDrive upgrades for aging Pentium Pro systems. They will be available in two modules: a 300MHz Pentium II for 150MHz and 180MHz Pentium Pro systems and a 333MHz Pentium II module for 166MHz and 200MHz Pentium Pros. Company officials claim overall performance improvement on business applications of 47 percent. The OverDrives are priced at $599 and will be available through resellers, distributors and catalogs. |
See Today's Related Stories |
VIA
releases Socket 7 Super Set
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Taiwanese chip company VIA has announced
its Apollo MVP4 chipset which it said integrates 2D and
3D AGP graphics, AC 97 audio, Super I/O and has hardware
monitoring features. The chipset will start being produced in volume towards the end of the year, with pricing at $39 in OEM quantities. The chipset consists of the VT92C501 Share Memory Architecture (SMA) north bridge and the VT82C686 Super South bridge. |
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A view into the Intel machineBy Reuters August 10, 1998 |
Albert Yu, who is in charge of the crown
jewels at Intel --its microprocessor products--likes to
stay ahead of the technology curve. Once he even left the
chip giant's employ in the 1970s to jump on his belief
that personal computing was the next big wave. Yu launched his home computer, called the Video Brain, in 1978, two years after Apple rolled out the first Apple II, with an audio cassette as a storage device. |
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THE DAY AHEAD: Don't bank on that chip rebound yetBy Larry Dignan August 11, 1998 |
Wall Street is tripping over itself
trying to call the end of the semiconductor slump, but
unless analysts have ringing up the Psychic Friends
Hotline you shouldn't put too much stock in their
predictions. Semiconductor executives have admitted in numerous conference calls that their visibility about Asia is very limited. Many execs have indicated Asia could get worse before it gets better. Asia will continue to be the biggest drag on the chip sector even though PC demand and pricing pressures are also problems. |
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Today's Related Stories | ||
Intel completes launch of OverDrive processorsAugust 11, 1998 |
Intel Corp. here has rolled out a new
Pentium II OverDrive processor which the company says
completes a series of upgrade products for its
microprocessors targeted at Pentium Pro-based systems. The Pentium II OverDrive will increase the performance of existing upgradable 150- and 180-MHz Pentium Pro-based systems to 300 MHz, according to Intel. The new processor will also enable upgrades of existing 166- and 200-MHz Pentium Pro systems to 333 MHz, the company said. |
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August 10, 1998 | ||
Merced is Facing ExtinctionBy Anonymous Intel Engineer Face Intel |
Merced is facing extinction! Deliberate
mismanagement and abuse of employees, which is byproduct
of Intel's exploitive and unjust human resources polices
has been a major issue at Intel in recent years. But
today, it is so prevalent that it is seriously taking a
toll on Intel's leading projects like Merced. Intel does not value and appreciate the experience and knowledge of its veteran engineers. This is because Intel has enjoyed enormous success by modifying existing products without major changes. The documents, tools, flows, etc. are readily available and standardized for x86 processors. Hence, even new college graduates (NCGs) can handle most of the design and validation tasks. |
See Related Stories |
What makes Merced tick?By Alexander Wolfe August 10, 1998 |
It's time for another edition of
"Making Book on Merced," the industry pastime
where we attempt to uncover the closely held
architectural details of Intel's upcoming 64-bit
microprocessor. First, some ground rules. Intel's engineers would like to talk, but they're not allowed to ("We could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you"). Hewlett-Packard's engineers would really like to talk-they're afraid the world isn't aware of their major contributions-but they're really not allowed to. Management will talk, but it won't tell you anything you don't already know. |
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PII
upgrade release spells doom for Pentium Pro
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Intel has released its Pentium II
OverDrive upgrade for the Pentium Pro, as revealed here
last month. That spells the virtual end of the Pentium
Pro as an Intel platform. The product, which will cost $599, uses the socket eight slot, and will give a 300MHz clock speed to Pentium Pro 150MHz, 180MHz machines, and a 330MHz clock speed for 166MHz and 200MHz Pentium Pro machines. Intel's release of the news confirms the reports here that the Pentium Pro is now, finally, being phased out in favour of the Pentium II and Xeon platforms. |
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Intel Delays Four-Way Xeon Servers Until 1999By Andy Patrizio August 7, 1998 |
Intel delayed delivery of its high-end
Pentium II Xeon-based servers, while it does extra
certification work to ensure compatibility with all
possible hardware configurations. The company has already released the 400-MHz version of the Xeon chip and the 440GX and 450NX chip sets. The 440GX allows for up to two central processing units and 2 gigabytes of memory, while the 450NX chip set handles up to four processors and 8 GBs of memory. Intel (company profile) previously delayed releasing the 450NX chip set when it found errors in four-way configurations. |
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Faster four-way Pentium II Xeon servers delayedBy Andy Santoni August 7, 1998 |
Intel has delayed the introduction of
the four-way server version of its 450-MHz Pentium II
Xeon processor from later this year to early next to make
sure the faster parts work with the company's server chip
set, the 450NX. The 450-MHz Pentium II processor is still on schedule for an Aug. 24 launch, and the 450-MHz Pentium II Xeon will still ship later this year for one- and two-way workstations and servers. However, Intel wants more time to test the highest performance configuration of processor and chip set: the 450-MHz Pentium II Xeon with 2MB of Level 2 (L2) cache and the 450NX in a four-way system. Intel has already tested processors that run at 350 MHz or 400 MHz with 512KB or 1MB of L2 cache. |
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Xeon
delay stories wrong, says Intel
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Reports that higher end Xeon processors
are delayed are spurious, Intel said today. But at the same time, details of pricing changes to arrive on the 24 August have emerged, as well as future plans for its high end chip platforms. Reports on US
wires had said Intel had delayed four way server versions
of its Xeon |
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Rayat
signs IDT in snub to master resellers
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Flashpoint has struck a deal with chip
manufacturer IDT-Centaur to sell its processors in the
UK. But the deal may cause ructions because Avnet and Arrow are master resellers in this country. Sukh Rayat, general manager at Flashpoint UK, said: "We anticipate strong demand from our OEM and Var customers for IDT's highly efficient processors." The WinChip IDT makes is much cheaper than x.86 parts offered by Intel, AMD or Cyrix, even given recent price reductions. |
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Copper
in .13 micron Intel frame
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Intel has confirmed it will use copper
technology in the future. At the same time, a report on a
US Web site claimed that Intel could drop Merced
altogether. Intel said it had a plan for the future based on what a representative described as its Organic C4 Flip-Chip circuitry. This is an Intel, home grown solution, to the copper technology IBM and Motorola claimed as a first last year. A representative said: "Yes, we will be using copper technology on our .13 micron technology. This is a technique that minimises delays in the interconnect. It uses copper in couple with aluminium and it is much cheaper than copper." |
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AMD a
monkey, Motorola a chimp and Intel a gorilla
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The head of chip company AMD has
compared his company to a monkey, Motorola to a
chimpanzee and Intel to a gorilla. Jerry Sanders, CEO of the company, speaking in California last week, said: "It is not illegal to be an 800 pound gorilla, nor is it illegal for the gorilla to wind up with more bananas than the much smaller monkeys and chimpanzees that forage in the same hunting grounds." Sanders said that "size counts" in the semiconductor industry. "Being big is not only good - it's essential," he said. "In the semiconductor industry, Intel is a gorilla, Motorola is a chimpanzee and AMD is a monkey." |
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Hyundai
admits it never talked to Intel
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A statement from Hyundai's HQ in Seoul,
Korea, today confirmed that the two companies had never
been in talks over the acquisition of its Fife, Scotland,
fab plant. That is likely to make a lot of journalists
red-faced after they insisted, even today, that Reports in today's UK national papers said that unelected Scottish minister Gus McDonald is still attempting to broker a deal between the two. |
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SOI gains wider industry attentionBy Yoshiko Hara and Michael Santarini with additional reporting by Ron Wilson August 7, 1998 |
Sharp Corp. confirmed this week that it
is pushing SOI into communications ICs and that it will
begin a foundry business for SOI devices. Meanwhile,
executives at Motorola Inc. told EE Times that the
company is preparing a module for its CMOS process that would enable the use of SOI in a design. And design-automation experts also weighed in, asserting that while SOI won't pose many tools challenges, the technology could throw over traditional CMOS-based design methodologies. Interest in silicon-on-insulator technology surged on the heels of IBM's announcement that it is deploying SOI technology in a version of the PowerPC. IBM officially announced it was using SOI on the PowerPC 750 microprocessor, expected in the first half of next year. This 15-year-old technology, which has long searched for profitable applications, is a way to bring lower power and high performance to high-speed designs. |
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BMW v Ford, Intels dilemma?By Roy Taylor August 9, 1998 |
After a few dull weeks, the component market has become interesting again. Last week we saw the hike in price for DRAM up from $1.25 for a 4MX4 EDO to around $1.60 and lots of interest and purchase orders to boot. At VML we do not believe that this is a shortage of any kind but rather a re-alignment as manufacturers start to try out increases to see if they will stick. They did until yesterday (5 August) but we suspect that they have hit a lull until the next major cutback or other event happens. |