x86 Headline NewsFor the week of August 17, 1998 |
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x86 Weekly News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of August 17, 1998 |
Older News |
August 21, 1998 | ||
Intel, TI Downgraded As Chip Woes ContinueAugust 20, 1998 |
Shares in both Intel and Texas
Instruments are down, after being downgraded by Merrill
Lynch analyst Tom Kurlak Thursday. After Wednesday's
earnings warning from National Semiconductor, the action
suggests recent optimism about the near future for the
semiconductor industry must be tempered by the continuing
poor conditions for the industry. The analyst downgraded his rating for Intel [INTC] to near-term neutral, from its previous rating of accumulate. Intel (company profile) shares were trading heavily, and the midday price of 86 13/16 was down nearly $3 from Wednesday's closing price. |
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Intel to begin low-cost assaultBy Michael Kanellos August 20, 1998 |
Intel will make a major push into the
low-cost computing arena Monday by releasing the first
Celeron processors with integrated high-speed memory, a
substantial change in design that will allow vendors to
put a high-performance chip into a sub-$1,000 machine. Meanwhile, rival Advanced Micro Devices will release a 350-MHz version of the K6-2, a chip that increasingly has been used in inexpensive systems from Compaq Computer, IBM, and others. |
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Cache to boost performance of Intel's CeleronBy Lisa DiCarlo August 20, 1998 |
Intel Corp. is hoping to push its
low-end Celeron processors into corporate America next
week with new versions that support such
higher-performance features as Level 2 cache. But it may
take more than cache to make it happen. The Santa Clara, Calif., company on Monday will introduce a new 300MHz Celeron processor, called the 300A, and a 333MHz Celeron, both of which have 128KB of integrated Level 2 cache. In addition, Intel will unveil a 450MHz Pentium II for high-end systems. |
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National Semiconductor Foresees LossesBy Wylie Wong August 19, 1998 |
National Semiconductor Corp. expects to
suffer losses the next two quarters because of slow
demand for semiconductor products, company officials said
Wednesday. Revenue and earnings per share for National's first quarter ending August 30 and second quarter ending Nov. 29 may be worse than its fourth-quarter loss of $69.3 million, or 42 cents per share, on revenue of $510 million, National officials said. |
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August 20, 1998 | ||
Compaq kicks Intel's Merced butt while its downAugust 20, 1998 |
In a move which will send shock waves
through the industry, Compaq said yesterday that it
prefers the 64-bit Alpha processor to Merced as it offers
better performance and is 50 per cent cheaper. Richard George, who runs the Alpha business in the UK, said: "The Alpha chip is better than the Merced chip. It has more applications than the IA64." |
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Intel fights back after Compaq attackAugust 20, 1998 |
Intel has struck back at Compaqs
unprecedented attack on the Merced processor by insisting
that the PC vendor is still committed to the platform.
(See story, below). A representative from Intel said: Compaq has publicly committed to support Merced already, so nothing has really changed. But a source at Intel who did not wish to be named, went further than that. He said: Were talking about a product which has still 18 months to go before it is released and we dont speculate on its performance. If were not in a position to speculate about its performance, neither is Compaq. |
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New AMD Chip To Challenge Pentium IIBy Kristen Kenedy August 20, 1998 |
Advanced Micro Devices is expected to
announce next week a 350-MHz version of the K6-2 CPU,
which the company said it plans to position as an
alternative to higher-end Pentium II processors. AMD officials declined to comment about the upcoming announcement, but acknowledged that the company's road map calls for a K6-2 350-MHz processor to ship this quarter. A 400-MHz chip is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter. |
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Intel musters tiger team to stomp out the ISA busBy Rick Boyd-Merritt with additional reporting by Margaret Quan August 19, 1998 |
Intel Corp.'s latest initiative has
nothing to do with promoting a new technology. Instead,
the microprocessor giant is trying to stomp out an
existing one the venerable Industry Standard
Architecture bus. Intel has assembled a tiger team that
aims to eliminate ISA from new PCs by the year 2000. Intel claims the relatively slow and stodgy bus holds back the PC with its ties to register-level hardware interrupts and direct-memory access channels, creating incompatibility issues and support headaches for OEMs. Analysts said the elimination of the admittedly aging ISA bus will take longer than Intel would hope and, they noted, the effort will also aid Intel to drive more PC functions such as audio and modem features to its processors and chip sets. |
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More bad news from National SemiBy Larry Barrett August 20, 1998 |
National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:
NSM), arguably one of the most disappointing technology
stocks of the past five years, added to its woes
Wednesday when it announced that sales and earnings in
the next two quarters will be worse than its fourth
quarter results. In the fourth quarter, National lost 42 cents a share on sales of $510 million. National shares closed off 1 3/8 to 12 13/16. |
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National Semi Sees Lower Sales, LossesBy Reuters August 19, 1998 |
Computer chip maker National
Semiconductor said Wednesday it expected to post losses
and lower sales for its current quarter and the following
quarter. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said net sales and earnings per share for the two periods will be lower than the prior quarter -- the fourth quarter of its fiscal year -- when it posted a loss, excluding one-time items, of 42 cents a share on sales of $510 million. The current quarter ends Aug. 30. |
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August 19, 1998 | ||
National Ramps Cyrix MPUs, TSMC Will Provide BackupBy Will Wade August 17, 1998 |
National Semiconductor Corp., Sunnyvale,
Calif. has confirmed that its Cyrix division has begun
ramping production of microprocessors at the company's
wafer fab in South Portland, Maine. These parts are the
first Cyrix chips produced in-house since the fabless
microprocessor company was acquired by National last year
in a $530 million deal. Cyrix's 6x86MX processor are being fabricated with National's 0.25-micron process. National will continue its foundry relationship with IBM Corp., said Steve Tobak, vice president of corporate marketing and communications, but the IBM chips are made with less aggressive 0.3-micron technology. Tobak said he expects that half of the company's shipments will come from the National fab by the end of this year. |
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China, India Make Up For Intel's Lost Sales To AsiaBy Jack Robertson August 14, 1998 |
Increased chip sales to China and India this year are offsetting Intels sales declines in the rest of Asia, said Intel president and chief executive Craig Barrett at a business meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last week. Asia, once one of the fastest-growing regions for microprocessor sales, has become essentially flat, he said. Latin America and Eastern Europe are surprisingly strong markets, but Russia is up and down, like its economy, the Intel leader said. | |
Intel To Offer OLGA Package For Desktop Pentium IIBy Mark Hachman August 14, 1998 |
Intel Corp. will begin offering its OLGA (Organic Land Grid Array) package used for mobile Pentium II processors as an option for desktop Pentium II chips, beginning in the fourth quarter. In addition, Intel will remove the thermal plate from the back of the new Pentium II SECC 2 (Single Edge Cartridge Connector) module, allowing the heat sink to connect directly to the back of the chip package. Intel typically contracts with third-party chip-package suppliers, according to a spokesman for the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company. | |
Chromatic revises technology and strategyBy Rick Boyd-Merritt August 19, 1998 |
Five long years ago, a Silicon Valley startup called Chromatic Research Inc. burst on the scene in a media blitz, trumpeting its plans to build a new kind of PC component a media processor based on an emerging technique known as VLIW and sold on a new business model it dubbed the "chipless" chip company. Partners LG Semicon, Toshiba and STMicroelectronics would make the Mpact device and Chromatic would recoup its investment in designing the part by selling software to run PC graphics, audio, modem and other functions on it simultaneously. With a handful of seasoned executives in tow, the operation leapt onto the charts of hot companies to watch. | |
SVGL's latest scanner to be sold only to IntelBy Jack Robertson August 17, 1998 |
SAN JOSE -- SVG Lithography is
developing an advanced step-and-scan lithography system
that will be sold exclusively to Intel Corp. The new Micrascan-IIIx could give Intel a major boost into next-generation chips with 0.15-micron feature sizes. Intel has become an industry leader in sub-quarter-micron chip processing, thanks to the powerful help of lithography tools from SVGL. Early next year, the microprocessor vendor is expected to become one of the first chip manufacturers to achieve large-scale production at 0.18-micron geometries. The 0.15-micron tool will be the one that Intel likely will use to produce critical layers for its next-generation 64-bit Merced microprocessor, said Papken der Torossian, chairman of SVGL's parent, Silicon Valley Group Inc. in San Jose. |
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SOI calls for new EDA approachesBy Michael Santarini August 19, 1998 |
As IBM, Sharp, Motorola and others
prepare to use silicon-on-insulator (SOI) semiconductor
technology, EDA vendors have looked at the implications
for design tools and concluded that SOI doesn't pose huge
tool challenges, but will require new models and possibly
new methodologies. Representatives of both Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Synopsys Inc. said the biggest challenge may be for library vendors, simply because it takes time to develop libraries. Avant! claims to have already developed SOI libraries with an unidentified company, and to have put the libraries through Avant!'s place-and-route flow. |
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August 18, 1998 | ||
Bye-bye Merced?August 16, 1998 |
Rumors are flying about Intels
Merced P7 processor. The processor is set to be
Intels entry into 64-bit computing. Initially
slated for 1999 release, Merced has already been delayed
by a full year, until the year 2000. The McKinley processor is the second iteration of the Merced P7 processor, and the release date is close enough to Merceds delayed release date that Intel is considering forgoing the Merced altogether. |
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Intel changes rules on slot oneAugust 17, 1998 |
Intel is set to change the ground rules
on its architecture once more with the introduction of a
modification to its slot design later on this year. An
Intel representative confirmed today that it would move
to a new slot design dubbed SECC 2. This is the
mark two version of slot one, he said. The design is a cut down version of slot one, he said. Its the current slot one package with the backing plate taken off so the heat sink can be attached directly to the processor. |
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Intel pushes Direct Rambus into PC serversBy Mark Carroll with additional reporting by Rick Boyd-Merritt and David Lammers August 16, 1998 |
Intel Corp. is ready to detail a path
for Direct Rambus memories to find their way into
workstations and servers. But server makers here and in
the United States are showing some reluctance in just how
fast they want to go down that road, especially for
high-end systems that might need larger memory sizes and
more elaborate error-correction code than Rambus may
cost-effectively deliver. Though Compaq Computer Corp. plans to use Direct Rambus DRAMs in its Alpha-based servers, the Houston company's technology road map is looking for Rambus to deliver a next-generation RDRAM with higher bandwidth, to become available when Merced-class servers hit the market in several years. IBM Corp. hopes to design its own core logic, which will likely support SDRAMs for use with Merced. |
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Intel shortage of PII/266 heralds victory for Celeron familyAugust 16, 1998 |
Intel has said that delays to the lower
end members of its Pentium II family have arisen because
of a deliberate shift to ramp up its Celeron, low end
products. Sources close to Intel have now said that price
changes slated for August 24th will now be delayed until
14 September. An Intel representative confirmed today
that there was a shortage of PII/266 and PII/300 products
but the reasons for the shortfall varied with the
processors. He said that PII/266MHz parts used a .35 micron process which will not change, but that Intel was manufacturing a PII/300 using the .25 micron, although he would not be drawn on a date for when that processor will arrive. |
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Intel Redesigns P2 Case For Higher SpeedsBy Andy Patrizio August 14, 1998 |
Intel will begin shipping Pentium II
CPUs with a new casing designed to improve signal
transmission and cooling, letting Intel crank up the
speed of the chips well beyond the 500-MHz mark. Intel will begin using this new housing for the chips in the fourth quarter of this year on Pentium II chips running at 350 MHz or higher, according to Manny Vara, a spokesman for Intel. The 350-MHz, 400-MHz, and even 450-MHz chips don't really need it, he said, but above 500 MHz, this new casing will be important. |
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Intel works to cool down XeonBy Michael Kanellos August 17, 1998 |
High operating temperatures on Intel's
top chip--its 400-MHz Pentium II Xeon processor for
sophisticated servers--are related to recently reported
performance glitches as well as the delay of the 450-MHz
version of the chip for four-processor servers, according
to sources close to company. The problems occur when four
of the chips are used at once in a server. Solving temperature problems is crucial in high-end servers because excess heat can cause data error problems. Servers containing four processors are some of the most powerful Intel-based computers on the market today and typically used to run critical database applications. |
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Pentium II prices inch upBy Michael Kanellos August 14, 1998 |
Prices on older Pentium II processors
have inched up in the past two weeks as Intel begins
concentrating production on faster versions of the
Pentium II and on new low-cost Celeron chips. The chips affected are the older 233-, 266- and 300-MHz Pentium IIs that are found in the midrange segment of the market, where systems are typically priced from about $1,000 to $1,800. Faster 350-, 400-, and 450-MHz chips are now coming to market in volume to take their place. |
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AMD
vs. Intel: Revival of the fittest
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CHIP maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
has made dramatic inroads against Intel Corp. in selling
the microprocessors that power budget PCs -- taking the
lion's share of that market for much of the first half of
this year, and fostering competition that will continue
to provide low prices even as performance rises. San Jose-based AMD sold more than half of the microprocessors for computers priced under $1,000 for four of the first six months of this year -- a gigantic leap from just 4 percent a year ago. Microprocessors serve as the brains for computers. Intel's miscalculation of the rising popularity of cheap PCs enabled AMD to reach 51 percent of the sub-$1,000 market and 34 percent of the general consumer market in June, the latest date for which figures were available, said research firm PC Data. |
See Related Stories |
FOR
INTEL, IT'S NOT EASY BEING CHEAP
|
For a company whose credo is ''only the paranoid survive,'' Intel Corp. (INTC) was dangerously slow to respond to the low-cost personal-computer craze of the last 18 months. While customers opted for cheaper models, Intel focused mostly on the pricey high-end chips that made it one of the world's most profitable companies. Even its low-cost Celeron chip, unveiled to a chorus of crummy reviews in April, seemed more of an afterthought than a serious strategic shift. |