x86 Headline NewsFor the week of August 24, 1998 |
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x86 Weekly News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of August 24, 1998 |
Older News |
August 28, 1998 | ||
Preview: Rise Technologies mP6August 27, 1998 |
A few days back I had an interesting
(actually, very dull :) phone conversation with
representatives from Rise technologies (you know, those
guys making the new Socket 7 + mobile mP6 chip) Here is
what I have learned about this new processors. First of all, the Rise representatives could not answer many questions (make that just about every). Most of the information will be unveiled at microprocessor forum in October. Even though they did not give me much information, I did learn a few things: |
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AMD beefs up K6By Michael Kanellos August 27, 1998 |
Advanced Micro Devices released a
350-MHz version of the K6-2 processor today, the
company's fastest microprocessor ever, and is promising
to ship hundreds of thousands of the chips in its effort
to take market share away from Intel. Volume sales of the K6 and K6-2 are crucial to improving the company's fortunes, a goal which has not always been easy. AMD has stated that a return to profitability hinges on boosting sales of K6 chips. Despite lingering production shortfalls, the company has landed a number of design wins with major computer vendors this year. |
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Market Downturn Rains On AMD's ParadeBy Gabrielle Jonas August 27, 1998 |
Advanced Micro Devices was the victim of
unlucky timing Thursday, releasing its new chips into a
hostile stock market. As investors -- frightened by Russia's spiraling downturn -- fled technology stocks in droves, AMD trotted out its new 350-MHz K6-2 processors to an unappreciative audience. |
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Intel uses forum to detail directionBy David Lammers August 28, 1998 |
The Intel Developers Forum, planned for
Sept. 15-17, is expected to focus on Intel's approaches
to content protection for digital video. Jim Pappas,
director of technology initiatives, said Intel will
disclose its latest work on the Digital Transmission of
Content Protection (DTCP) initiative, launched last year
with Hitachi Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
Ltd., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. The DTCP specification must be adopted by the industry in order to protect digital content, such as movies. And indirectly, the 1394 serial interface can be widely adopted only after Hollywood and other content providers are reassured that DTCP will work. |
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August 27, 1998 | ||
Wintel equation favors MicrosoftBy Dawn Kawamoto August 26, 1998 |
Microsoft and Intel have been partners
for years, to such a degree that their product alliance
came to be morphed into the bastardized shorthand Wintel.
In the last couple of years, however, destiny began to diverge for the two companies. As Intel's business became increasingly squeezed by low-cost chipmakers and the sub-$1,000 PC phenomenon, Windows has been pulling further away from its software competition while managing to elude the type of pricing pressures that have besieged Microsoft's chipmaking ally. |
See Related Stories |
Intel: Stepchild of Wintel?By Michael Kanellos August 26, 1998 |
If there is any sibling resentment
within the Wintel family, there may be good reason for
it. Unlike software ally Microsoft, Intel is engaged in far more trench warfare in a rapidly changing battlefield. The processor giant still commands more than 85 percent of the market for chips used in today's desktop computers, but faces increasing challenges in emerging mainstream markets. |
See Related
Stories Wintel equation favors Microsoft |
Creating a dual Celeron ComputerAugust 26, 1998 |
Intel recently announced the Celeron
processor which uses PentuimII core but does not use any
level 2 cache. This makes it a very low cost CPU able to
run a low cost system. This Celeron CPU is really excellent regarding overclocking tolerance. It has been confirmed by multiple sources that a 266MHz Celeron can run at 448MHz stability. |
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AMD's new 350-MHz K6-2 processor incorporates 3Dnow! technologyAugust 27, 1998 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. here today
announced that it has begun volume shipments of
350-megahertz AMD-K6-2 processors with 3DNow! technology.
3DNow! is an innovation to the x86 processor architecture that enhances 3-D graphics, multimedia, and other floating-point-intensive PC applications to enable the emerging "realistic computing platform." |
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Latest Intel, AMD micros blur performance contrastsBy Margaret Quan August 26, 1998 |
The performance boundaries between microprocessors aimed at the low and high ends of the PC market continue to blur, with Intel Corp. introducing faster models of its Celeron and Pentium II processors and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. rolling out a souped-up version of the K6-2. But analysts said the companies' strategies for the chips signal that marketing considerations may count more than raw performance in determining how new processors are positioned and priced. | |
AMD's K6-2 gives Pentium II a run for its moneyBy Lisa DiCarlo August 27, 1998 |
In its fight to keep a price/performance
advantage over Intel Corp. processors, Advanced Micro
Devices Inc. today announced a 350MHz K6-2 processor. At the entry level, AMD officials said, the K6-2 "blows away" Intel's new Celeron because of its integrated three-dimensional instructions, called 3Dnow, which improve graphics performance, and the use of a 100MHz bus. The Celeron uses a 66MHz bus. |
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Intel gives qualified support for Mini PCI specAugust 26, 1998 |
Intel Corp. today announced qualified
support for the Mini PCI specification, a proposed
communications standard that potentially offers smaller
size, greater design flexibility and reduced cost for
mobile platforms. Intel also stated it will deliver Mini PCI solutions if a number of issues and mechanical challenges can be resolved by the PCI Special Interest Group, the body that will determine if the Mini PCI specification will become part of the open PCI standard. |
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National starts making Cyrix chipsBy Michael Kanellos August 26, 1998 |
National Semiconductor has begun to ship
samples of microprocessors based on the manufacturing
standard currently employed for other cutting-edge PC
processors, a technological step forward that will allow
the company to catch up to competitors Intel and Advanced
Micro Devices. The shift also represents a way for National to stay competitive in an increasingly difficult pricing environment. In the future, National will be manufacturing more of its Cyrix-brand processors, rather than having third parties make them, which will reduce costs. |
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Reviews and articles related to overclocking microprocessorsOverclocker's Workbench |
Welcome to Overclockers' WorkBench. Over
here you will find hardware, software reviews and
benchmark results. There is also a forum which you can
post your Q&A about CPUs, motherboards esp. on
overclocking issues. Current Celeron 300a/333 results are based on pre-production copies. The actual production release might not be so overclockable. |
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August 26, 1998 | ||
Microsoft may have deterred Intel from new Net technologyBy New York Times Staff Writer August 26, 1998 |
Opening a new front in its probe of
Microsoft Corp., the federal government is investigating whether the software giant forced Intel Corp. to shelve new technology efforts that conflicted with Microsoft's ambitions. The suggestion, if true, would be a stunning indication of Microsoft's market might. With its dominance over microprocessors -- the brains of the personal computer -- Santa Clara-based Intel is Microsoft's only real peer in the PC industry. |
See Today's Related Stories |
SIS introduces AGP Pentium II chipsetAugust 26, 1998 |
Taiwanese chip company Silicon
Integrated Systems (SIS) claimed it is the first company
to produce a Pentium II chipset with integrated 3D
graphics. Two weeks ago, SIS announced the SIS530 for
socket seven. The SIS 620 chipset is PC99 and PCI 2.2 compliant, supports 66/75/83/100MHz synchronous and asynchronous host/SDRAM bus frequencies, and has a PC 100 DRAM controller supporting three DIMMs and up to 1.5Gb main memory. |
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Cyrix shifts production from IBM to National SemiconductorBy Andy Santoni August 25, 1998 |
National Semiconductor is shipping
sample quantities of its Cyrix M II and MediaGX
processors from its own South Portland, Maine,
manufacturing facility and expects to begin shipping
production volumes from the fabrication plant next month.
The company said the facility should fill 75 percent of its needs in the last quarter of this year. "This is a significant step for National toward controlling our own destiny," said Brian Halla, president and chief executive officer of National Semiconductor, in a statement. "Now, we can focus all of our efforts on ramping capacity and bringing up new Cyrix-designed processors in our own fab [facility]." |
See Today's Related Stories |
National Achieves Unprecendented Yields On Cyrix ChipsAugust 25, 1998 |
National Semiconductor Corp. today said
it expects to begin volume shipments of Cyrix M II and
MediaGX microprocessors from its wafer fab here in
September after starting up production on a 0.25-micron
process technology. Earlier this month, National managers said the South Portland fab was expected to make the majority of the company's Cyrix processors at the end of the year (see Aug. 14 story). Today, National said it expects the 8-inch wafer fab to provide 75% of its manufacturing volume in the fourth quarter. |
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UMC expects sales and profits to plungeBy Sandy Chen August 25, 1998 |
Battered by a slowdown in the worldwide
semiconductor industry, Taiwan's United Microelectronics
Corp. (UMC) has revised its 1998 sales and profit
projections downwards by an estimated 39% and 42%,
respectively. UMC, one of the world's largest IC-wafer foundry companies, expects its sales to reach $527.1 million in 1998, compared with $864.2 million in its original forecast. Net income will hit $167.1 million in 1998, compared with the original forecast of $287.8 million. |
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PCI Spec Gets Preliminary ApprovalBy Jennifer Hagendorf August 25, 1998 |
The Peripheral Component Interconnect
(PCI) Special Interest Group on Tuesday granted
preliminary approval for a Mini PCI specification that
will standardize communications peripherals in mobile
PCs, according to 3Com. The specification will standardize integrated communications peripherals like modems, Ethernet, and token rings across the mobile-computing industry. The Mini PCI Roundtable, a group of ten mobile computing vendors and peripheral manufacturers, developed the standard and submitted it for approval earlier Tuesday. |
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Today's Related Stories | ||
DOJ probes Microsoft-Intel tiesBy Reuters August 26, 1998 |
The U.S. government is investigating
whether Microsoft has used its market muscle to force
Intel to shelve new technology efforts that conflicted
with Microsoft's ambitions, according to reports. Federal and state investigators appear particularly interested in an August 1995 meeting between Intel executives including chairman Andrew Grove and Microsoft executives led by chairman Bill Gates. At the meeting, Gates made "vague threats" about supporting Intel competitors, according to one of many internal Intel memos that the company was required to hand over to investigators, The New York Times reported today. |
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Microsoft threatened IntelAugust 26, 1998 |
A report in the US press said that
Microsoft had attempted to bully chip giant Intel. The
New York Times has reported that Bill Gates' company put
pressure on chip giant Intel in 1995 to prevent it from
developing software at its architecture laboratory. According to the report, the Justice Department is now investigating whether Microsoft backed up its pressure by threatening to support Intel's rivals, including AMD. The DoJ has now copies of internal memoranda and other material, the report said. |
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Report: Microsoft threatened IntelBy PC Week Online Staff August 26, 1998 |
The U.S. government is investigating
whether Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has used its market muscle
to force Intel Corp. (INTC) to shelve new technology
efforts that conflicted with the software giant's
ambitions, the New York Times reported Wednesday. Federal and state investigators are interested in an August 1995 meeting between Intel executives including Chairman Andrew Grove and Microsoft executives led by Chairman and CEO Bill Gates, according to the Times. |
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IBM Micro to get Cyrix order of bootAugust 26, 1998 |
Clone x.86 chip manufacturer Cyrix has
started to shift the production of its products from IBM
to National Semiconductor fabrication plants. The news is no surprise. After National Semiconductor bought Cyrix last year, the company made no secret of the fact that it would switch production to its own fabs. |
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August 25, 1998 | ||
Cracking KatmaiBy Alexander Wolfe August 24, 1998 |
The second most interesting secret under
lock and key at Intel Corp. (after the architecture of
Merced) is the master list of its "Katmai New
Instructions" (KNI). Intel isn't talking, but my
sources have turned up some interesting information. Katmai is the advanced 32-bit processor, due next year, that incorporates 70 special floating-point instructions to accelerate 3-D processing. Some saw these as "MMX2," a follow-on to the original 57 Pentium multimedia instruction-set extensions. But earlier this year Intel said the 70 instructions would officially be named KNI. |
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New Pentium II, Celeron PCs hereBy Stephanie Miles August 24, 1998 |
As expected, PC makers today announced
their new Celeron systems and the fastest Pentium II
systems yet, in concert with the arrival of Intel's new
and improved low-cost processor and its newest Pentium II
processor. Almost every major PC maker today announced systems featuring Intel's newest processors, including Dell, Gateway, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Toshiba, IBM, and Internet PC marketer iDot.com. |
See Today's Related Stories |
450-MHz PII servers, workstations debutBy Michael Kanellos August 24, 1998 |
Along with a slew of desktops, vendors
released new servers and workstations based around the
450-MHz Pentium II processor introduced today from Intel.
Although the higher-end and pricier Xeon processor is becoming the primary processor for Intel-based servers and workstations, most vendors are using the faster versions of the lower-cost Pentium II for entry level systems in these markets. |
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New Intel chips raise stakesBy Michael Kanellos August 24, 1998 |
Celeron is charting its comeback. While the first versions of Intel's processor for the low-cost market were met with hoots of derision from reviewers and tepid sales, two new Celeron processors released this morning, which were code-named "Mendocino," will likely have a fairly strong effect on the sub-$1,000 PC market, according to observers. |
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Intel delays PII/mobile 300MHz to avoid product swampAugust 25, 1998 |
Intel confirmed that it delayed
releasing its Pentium II/mobile processor running at
300MHz so that it would not be swamped by the
announcements on its PII/450MHz and Mendocino Celeron
processors. At the same time, more details have emerged of the price cuts it will make in mid-September which will dictate the way the Christmas market appears. |
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Intel says 300-MHz Pentium II supply back on trackBy Terho Uimonen August 25, 1998 |
Intel is well on its way to rectifying
the recent supply-demand imbalance for its 300-MHz
Pentium II processor, company officials said here
Tuesday. Admitting that Intel had underestimated demand for the chip, which is a popular choice for both business and consumer PCs, the supply gap was further aggravated by the company's ongoing transition to manufacture all its processors on a 0.25-micron process, said David Dan, Intel's country manager for Taiwan. The 300-MHz Pentium II was manufactured using an older 0.35-micron process, he added. |
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Intel: Outlook remains positiveBy Reuters August 24, 1998 |
Intel said today that it still expects
to post a stronger second half of the year and that, so
far, all the current signs go along with that view. "We see the second half at a higher volume than the first half," said Sean Maloney, corporate vice president for Intel's sales and marketing group, reiterating the company's current outlook. "And so far everything we have seen goes along with that view." |
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Analysts bicker over Intel forecastBy Larry Dignan August 25, 1998 |
Intel Corp.'s (Nasdaq: INTC) optimistic
second half outlook is unlikely to squelch the bickering
among Wall Street analysts over average selling prices
and the effect on the chipmaker's bottom line. What has analysts in a huff is Intel's most aggressive attack on the sub-$1,000 PC market and competitors Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) and National Semiconductor Corp.'s Cyrix unit (NYSE: NSM). On Monday, Intel officially unveiled its 333 MHz and 300A MHz cost $192 and $149, respectively. |
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Today's Related Stories | ||
Intel Extends Reach In Sub-$1,000 PCsBy Margaret Quan August 24, 1998 |
Intel Monday will roll out a long-awaited update of its Celeron processor equipped with Level 2 cache for the sub-$1,000 PC market. The Celeron 300A and Celeron 333, based on the so-called Mendocino design, perform at 300 MHz and 333 MHz, respectively. Priced at $139 and $179, they won't fatten Intel's profit margins, but they will give the company more competitive offerings for this low-end market. | |
Intel pushes further down price ladderBy Will Wade August 24, 1998 |
Intel Corp. added the final elements of
the year to its line of microprocessors this morning,
with two new Celeron chips for low-cost PCs and a faster
Pentium II device aimed at high-powered desktops and
entry-level servers and workstations. The new Celeron chips will heat up the already-competitive market for inexpensive computers, while the company said the 450-MHz Pentium II is its fastest chip released to date for the desktop market. |
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Intel Launches New ProcessorsBy Mark Hachman August 24, 1998 |
Although the announcement was old news
to OEM purchasers, Intel Corp. unveiled its
"Mendocino" Celeron processor and a 450 MHz
Pentium II as part of a general product update. Intel executives also said that they continue to expect third quarter revenues to be "flat to slightly up" over the second quarter, said Sean Maloney, corporate vice-president and director of Intel's Sales and Marketing Group, Santa Clara, Calif. |
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Intel boosts Celeron's speed, gains big-name PC supportBy Robert Lemos August 24, 1998 |
Recovering from a misstep in the
sub-$1,000 PC market, chip giant Intel Corp. unveiled two
new processors in its Celeron line on Monday that are
expected to give its competitors a run for their
customers' money. "Lower-priced PCs have attracted a lot of attention," said Sean Maloney, vice president and director of worldwide sales for Intel, during the one hour presentation. "These newest Celeron processors fit right into that market." Intel also briefed press and industry analysts on its 450MHz Pentium II. The new chip replaces the 400MHz Pentium II as the fastest mainstream Intel processor, and won't lose its crown until Intel's 500MHz processor with "Katmai" multimedia instructions comes out early next year. |
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August 24, 1998 | ||
Intel
Tries Integrating Graphics
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Next year Intel will start down the path
of integrating graphics. Its first step will be to
integrate its i740 graphics chip into its Whitney north
bridge, for the Celeron line. As a strategy to bolster
its processor business, integrating graphics into the
north bridge, and ultimately the processor, is a good
idea. But Whitney itself may not be strong enough to
accomplish the task; in fact, it could be a tactical
blunder serious enough to derail an otherwise sound
strategy. It is possible that Intel is integrating graphics just to get a piece of the graphics-chip market. But this would be a waste of energy; even if it captured 100% of the market, the incremental revenue would be chump change to a $25 billion company. Intel cannot afford to swing at bad pitches; it must keep its eye on the microprocessor ball. For this reason, Intel is, or should be, interested in graphics only for what graphics can do for its microprocessor business. |
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New Pentium II, Celeron linesBy Stephanie Miles August 24, 1998 |
PC makers are expected to announce their
new Celeron and the fastest Pentium II desktop systems
yet today, timed to arrive with Intel's introduction of
the new and improved low-cost processor and its newest
Pentium II processor. Intel's first Celeron processor came under fire because it lacked a critical feature called "secondary cache" memory, which serves as a data reservoir for the processor and boosts performance. But Intel has brought back the cache memory in the newest version, Celeron A, code-named Mendocino, and performance has subsequently improved, some say rivaling Pentium IIs. |
See Today's Related Stories |
450-MHz PII servers comingBy Michael Kanellos August 21, 1998 |
Along with a slew of desktops, vendors
will be releasing new servers and workstations based
around the 450-MHz Pentium II processor to be released
Monday. IBM will release versions of its 5500 and 3000 Netfinity servers with a version of the 450-MHz on Monday, sources said. The Netfinity 5500 is an enterprise-class server built for larger organizations. It can handle up to two processors and comes with a minimum of 128MB of memory. The 3000, meanwhile, is designed for workgroups. It accommodates one processor and can hold between 32MB and 384MB of memory. |
See Today's Related Stories |
Newest mobile Pentium II to bring cheaper notebooksBy John G. Spooner August 21, 1998 |
Intel Corp. will keep its rapid-fire
mobile processor machine firing next month when it
releases the 300MHz mobile Pentium II. The 300MHz Pentium II will be the sixth new mobile processor Intel has released in the last year. The company, however, is expected to slow that pace, sources said. The only mobile processor scheduled for release in the next few months is a 333MHz Pentium II, due in March of next year, they said. |
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Analysts mixed on IntelBy Corey Grice August 21, 1998 |
Wall Street analysts can't seem to agree
whether semiconductor giant Intel is a good buy or not. The bellwether chipmaker was downgraded by an influential analyst yesterday while Piper Jaffray analyst Ashok Kumar today upgraded the company's stock to "strong buy" from "buy" on the strength of increased sales and faltering competition. "We expect units in the third quarter to be up a strong 11 percent sequentially," Kumar wrote in his report. "The Celeron will displace Advanced Micro Device's K6-2 and help Intel regain 85 percent of the [Windows-based PC] market. AMD's inability to supply K6-2 350MHz in volume is aiding Intel." |
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Chromatic switches from chipless to fabless modelBy Mark Hachman August 21, 1998 |
The intellectual-property industry might
learn a lesson from Chromatic Research Inc., which has
decided to abandon the "chipless" business
model it helped pioneer. In July, Chromatic discontinued the Mpact, a media processor manufactured by hardware licensees LG Semicon, STMicroelectronics, and Toshiba. see July 10 story). Now, Chromatic executives say their design teams will concentrate on a stand-alone chip that a foundry, not a licensing partner, will manufacture as part of a shift to a fabless strategy. |
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Patent suit paints broad brushBy Michael Kanellos August 21, 1998 |
Twenty-six semiconductor companies,
including Intel, a division of Advanced Micro Devices,
VLSI, and Texas Instruments have been named as defendants
in a controversial patent infringement lawsuit that, in
different forms and actions, has generated close to $500
million for its plaintiff. The suit, which was filed July 31, is one of the several hundred lodged against major industrial defendants such as Ford, Motorola, Mitsubishi, and Apple Computer over the past 20 years. The exact patents in question in this case have served as the basis of at least eight other legal claims. |
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Rambus sees possible shortage of chip-scale packages in '99By Terry Costlow and By David Lammers August 24, 1998 |
Chip-scale packages (CSPs) could be in
short supply next year if its Direct Rambus DRAMs
(D-RDRAMs) are quickly adopted, warned Rambus Inc. chief
executive officer Geoff Tate. Rambus said it hopes that
its 10 RDRAM licensees will ship between 100 million and
200 million D-RDRAMs next year. For density and
electrical reasons, Rambus designed its D-RDRAM with
chip-scale packaging, but few of Rambus' 14 DRAM partners
have installed volume CSP production capability, Tate
said. Concern about a possible shortage in CSPs was shared by Paul Hoffman, vice president of advanced development at Amkor Electronics Inc. (Chandler, Ariz.). "We're producing 300,000 to 400,000 CSPs per week, probably second in the Tessera-style parts," he said. "We're meeting demand, but we're doing SRAMs and flash memory, not DRAM. When demand for Rambus chips kicks in, there could be a situation where there are shortages for a while." |
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New Intel chip drives prices lowerBy Michael Kanellos August 21, 1998 |
The $500 Intel-based computer is coming,
possibly as early as Tuesday. A cavalcade of low-cost PCs based around the new "integrated" Celeron processor coming Monday, combined with an oversupply of older Celeron machines, will likely lead to fire sale prices on current boxes. |
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Today's Related Stories | ||
Intel gets support for PII-450August 24, 1998 |
A raft of PC vendors will support
Intel's introduction of its 450MHz Pentium II and its two
enhanced Celeron processors. (See other stories on this
page). Although the original Celeron failed to garner much support at its launch, vendors including IBM, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba and local companies including Carrera are expected to incorporate some, if not all of the offerings, into PCs aimed at the September market. |
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Intel goes all MendocinoAugust 24, 1998 |
Intel has formally released details of
its Mendocino based microprocessors, after they were
leaked on US wires. The company is rolling out a 450MHz Pentium II and two Celeron chips which use the new Mendocino core the 333MHz and 300A MHz. The chips are determinedly aimed at the low end of the market with prices to match and pose questions about whether Intels earlier Celeron strategy was sound. |
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Intel Bets On Cache To Revive Celeron BrandBy Kristen Kenedy August 21, 1998 |
Intel is betting on the addition of
cache to salvage the maligned Celeron brand, but
observers wonder if improved performance is enough to
save it. As Intel Friday rolls out 300-MHz and 333-MHz Celerons with 128 kilobytes of cache, retailers said the processors must overcome the sluggish image of their cacheless predecessors and the momentum of Advanced Micro Devices' and Cyrix's low-cost alternatives. |