x86 Headline NewsFor the week of September 7, 1998 |
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x86 Weekly News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of September 7, 1998 |
Older News |
September 11, 1998 | ||
Intel layoffs and efficiencies mean brighter Q3September 11, 1998 |
Intel has predicted a bright third
quarter, particularly in the US and Europe, because of
what it described as stronger than anticipated demand. It
has managed to cut its costs by laying off staff and
improving its manufacturing process. That will mean its revenue for the third quarter will exceed its expectations. When it released its second quarter results in July, it had warned of flat expectations. |
See Today's Related Stories |
NatSemi reports big loss for Q1 '99September 11, 1998 |
As expected, National Semiconductor
reported a big loss for its first quarter of its 1999
financial year. Turnover dropped by eight per cent compared to Q4 of 1998 and it showed a net loss of $104.8 million on turnover of $469.6 million. That compares unfavourably with a profit in the equivalent quarter last year of $62 million on turnover of $656.7 million. |
See Today's Related Stories |
IDT's Oregon Fab Overproduces, Resulting In A Big Write-DownSeptember 10, 1998 |
Integrated Device Technology Inc. here
is planning to take nonrecurring charges of $205 million
to $240 million in the company's current fiscal quarter
because its Oregon wafer fab is producing too many
products for the marketplace. Ironically, the wafer fab in Hillsboro, Ore., has done such a good job of converting to 0.25-micron technology that the company is still significantly overproducing products despite a recent decision to close its chip-processing plant in San Jose. IDT said it was taking nonrecurring charges of $50 million to $60 million for the shutdown of the San Jose plant. |
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STMicroelectronics gains on IntelBy Reuters September 11, 1998 |
Shares in European chipmaker
STMicroelectronics surged more than 5 percent today and
led the gainers in Paris with analysts saying there were
no clear indication for the rise. Intel yesterday gave a bullish outlook on its third quarter which could have helped ST, but the two companies are not strictly in the same business. National Semiconductors had a smaller than expected quarterly loss yesterday. Another bit of good news was that Toshiba decided to cut its capital spending on chip activities. |
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AMD appoints new chief financial officerSeptember 10, 1998 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. here has
tapped Fran Barton to be the company's new chief
financial officer and senior vice president. Barton will
replace Marvin Burkett, who left the company in March,
and will report directly to William J. (Jerry) Sanders
III, chairman and CEO. Barton has an extensive background in the industry and in corporate finance. He spent 22 years with Digital Equipment Corp., including a stint as CFO of that company's PC business unit. He comes to AMD from Amdahl Corp., where he served as vice president and CFO. Barton has a master's degree in finance from Northeastern University, and a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. |
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Today's Related Stories | ||
Intel sees strong revenueBy Adam Lashinsky September 11, 1998 |
The market's tanking, Asia's imploding
and the president's apologizing, but mighty Intel Corp.
(Nasdaq, INTC) is reviving. Or is it? Intel ended days
of high-level chatter late Thursday by ``pre-announcing'' |
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Intel expects revenues to beat expectationsBy Will Wade September 10, 1998 |
Reversing a trend seen throughout much
of the year, Intel Corp. announced here today that it has
seen demand for its chips pick up significantly, and that
it expects its revenues to be higher than previously
expected. This is a change from the chip giant's position in July, when Intel reported second-quarter sales of $5.9 billion and predicted that revenues this quarter would be flat (see July 14 story). |
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Intel Sees Strong 3Q SalesBy Reuters September 10, 1998 |
Chip maker Intel said Thursday that it
expects third quarter revenue will be 8 percent to 10
percent above the second quarter's $5.9 billion due to
strong demand in North America and Europe. The world's largest chip maker said in July it had expected third quarter sales to be flat to slightly higher than second quarter levels. |
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Intel expects better third quarterBy Andy Santoni September 10, 1998 |
Stronger than anticipated demand,
especially in North America and Europe, will cause
revenues to exceed Intel's expectations for the third
quarter of 1998, Intel projected Thursday. When Intel announced second-quarter earnings in July, the company's expectations were that revenues in the third quarter of 1998 would be flat to slightly up from second-quarter revenues of $5.9 billion. |
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National Semi Ekes Past Wall StreetBy Gabrielle Jonas September 10, 1998 |
National Semiconductor reported Thursday a whopping 63 cents per share loss for its first quarter, but managed to beat revised Wall Street estimates by 2 cents. For the three months ended Aug. 30, National Semiconductor's loss was $105 million, or 63 cents per share, on sales of $470 million. In the same quarter last year, the company earned net income of $63 million, or 38 cents per share, on revenue of $657 million. |
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National posts $100 million loss, but sees improved bookingsSeptember 10, 1998 |
National Semiconductor Corp. announced
here today a loss of $104.8 million for its first fiscal
quarter of 1999, ending Aug. 30. However, the company
also saw an upturn in bookings, which may signal that the
company is on the rise again after a disastrous year. "Sales continued soft during the summer quarter," said Brian Halla, National's chairman, president and CEO. "We think, however, we may have touched bottom as bookings in the first quarter improved for the first time in a year." |
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September 10, 1998 | ||
Merced tipoff in HP compilerBy Alexander Wolfe August 31, 1998 |
The latest news to leak out of the
tightly wound Merced community makes it abundantly clear
that software will be the linchpin of Intel Corp.'s
upcoming 64-bit architecture. Sure, the silicon itself
will be significant. But without smart compiler
technology, which can turn complex applications programs
into uninterrupted parallel streams of machine
instructions, Merced won't outperform today's superscalar
architectures. Now, a first glimpse of that technology is available thanks to Hewlett-Packard, which has authorized the release of a research compiler called Trimaran and a related set of performance-monitoring tools. |
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Compaq, IBM, HP hop on bus specBy Michael Kanellos September 9, 1998 |
IBM, Compaq, and Hewlett-Packard have
announced a joint development initiative on a computer
specification that, if implemented, would wrest some
control over the internal structure of PCs and servers
from Intel. The PCI-X specification, as the initiative is called, reflects a growing frustration among server vendors with the slow pace of innovation around how data moves inside a computer, according to sources. Intel boosts the speed of microprocessors on roughly a quarterly basis. However, when it comes to boosting the speed at which data can be shuttled around from the microprocessor to other components in a computer, change has been glacial. |
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HP and NEC prep Unix for Intel's Merced processorBy Alexander Wolfe September 9, 1998 |
Hewlett-Packard Co. and NEC Corp. have
entered a development pact that aims to optimize the
HP-UX operating system to run on systems using Intel's
upcoming 64-bit Merced processor. Merced will be the
first implementation of Intel's new IA-64 architecture.
HP-UX is HP's brand of Unix. The HP-NEC pact extends a deal the two companies inked this past April, when NEC licensed HP-UX. |
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Intel Launches 300-MHz Pentium II For LaptopsBy Andy Patrizio September 9, 1998 |
Intel introduced Wednesday the 300-MHz
version of its mobile Pentium II processor for
high-performance computing and software-only DVD
playback. The mobile Pentium II 300 comes in two forms, a CPU mounted on the motherboard and a mobile module. Laptop vendors that use the mobile module design can easily remove older 233-MHz and 266-MHz Pentium IIs, and even Tillamook Pentium 233-MHz and 266-MHz chips, without having to redesign the computer. |
See Today's Related Stories |
Today's Related Stories | ||
Intel Unveils Fastest Mobile ProcessorBy Jennifer Hagendorf September 9, 1998 |
Intel Corp. Wednesday announced its
300MHz mobile Pentium II processor, its fastest mobile
processor that also consumes the least amount of power,
said Jeff McCrea, product marketing manager for the Santa
Clara, Calif.-based company's mobile/handheld product
group. The new processor consumes 1.6 volts, compared with its predecessor 233MHz and 266MHz mobile processors, which consume 1.7 volts, McCrea said. |
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September 9, 1998 | ||
IBM Micro to get big wedge from NatSemiSeptember 8, 1998 |
National Semiconductor is to pay a large
amount of money to IBM Microelectonics to sever the
contract to fab its 6x68 chips, according to reliable
sources close to the company. NatSemi-Cyrix will hand over a figure in the region of $40 million, according to the source. That will mean that IBM Micro will, effectively, stop producing x.86 clone processors. Although it has an existing contract with AMD, that is understood to be close to termination also. |
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IDT's Oregon fab overproduces resulting in a big write-downSeptember 9, 1998 |
Integrated Device Technology Inc. here
is planning to take non-recurring charges of $205 million
to $240 million in the company's current fiscal quarter
because its Oregon wafer fab is producing too many
products for the marketplace. Ironically, the wafer fab in Hillsboro, Ore., has done such a good job converting over to 0.25-micron technology that IDT said it is still significantly over producing products despite a recent decision to close the company's chip-processing plant in San Jose (see July 22 story). IDT said it was taking non-recurring charges of $50 million to $60 million for the shutdown of the San Jose plant. |
See Today's Relates Stories |
Intel Returns To Pin-Based Chip DesignBy Andy Patrizio September 8, 1998 |
Intel plans to gradually move its family
of Celeron chips to the old pin-based design, beginning
next year. In the first half of 1999, Intel will ship 300-MHz and 333-MHz Celerons that use a 390-pin chip form, called plastic pin grid array (PPGA). That form will make the chip about the same size as the Pentium Pro chip, but it will have a different pin configuration, according to Carl Larson, marketing manager in Intel's microprocessor group. |
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Intel
feeling the heat
|
Competitors both large and small, in
desktops and servers, are putting increasing pressure on
Intel Corp. with alternative processor plans. In addition to Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel's longtime rival in mainstream desktop processors, National Semiconductor Corp. and IBM Microelectronics are renewing efforts to give corporate users new chips to consider. National Semi, for example, is developing a range of integrated processors for entry-level PCs, thin clients, single-function devices and portables. |
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Newest mobile Pentium II consumes least powerBy John G. Spooner September 8, 1998 |
Intel Corp. on Wednesday plans to
introduce its fastest, lowest-power mobile processor to
date. The Santa Clara, Calif., company's new mobile Pentium II processor running at 300MHz is expected to usher in a parade of new notebooks. The processor's low power consumption is made possible by advances in manufacturing. The chip consumes 1.6 volts, as opposed to the 1.7 volts consumed by the 266MHz mobile Pentium II, sources said. |
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Is 300MHz mobile Pentium II overkill?By John G. Spooner September 4, 1998 |
Intel Corp. and its latest mobile
Pentium II chip will usher in a new wave of
high-performance notebook PCs. But are IT managers
clamoring for such powerful portables? The Santa Clara, Calif., semiconductor maker's 300MHz mobile Pentium II, to be announced next Wednesday, will include 512KB of Level 2 cache and be available on either a mobile module or a cartridge for thin-form-factor notebooks. The mobile module will include a built-in bridge to a notebook's accelerated graphics port, a separate 66MHz bus for processing graphics, sources said. |
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PCI rift bus between Intel and system vendors a symptom of bigger battleBy David Pendery and Andy Santoni September 8, 1998 |
System makers are planning improvements
to the PCI bus, with or without the support of Intel,
PCIs original champion. IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Compaq Computer are developing an improvement on the PCI bus called PCIx. Other OEMs are pressing for Mini PCI, a proposed communications standard that could bring smaller size, greater design flexibility, and lower cost to mobile products. And, after lukewarm interest in doubling the bus width and speed of the PCI bus to 64 bits and 66 MHz, Intel is just beginning to support this change. |
See Today's Related Stories |
Today's Related Stories | ||
IDT suffers from gross overcapacitySeptember 9, 1998 |
IDT is still producing too many chips.
Today it announced details of its plans to restructure
its business following poor financial results for its
second quarter. The company, which makes the x.86-compatible range of WinChips, as well as a number of other semiconductor products, said it was still suffering from overcapacity, despite the closure of its San Jose fab. |
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Intel and PC makers clash over the future of PCIBy Rick Boyd-Merritt September 8, 1998 |
Intel Corp. and a group of top PC makers
are pushing the future of the PCI bus in different
directions. A debate over PCI is now brewing in the arena
of high-end PC servers, but promises to spill over into
communications and embedded systems designs. Intel is planning a PCI upgrade that will differ from PCI-X, an incremental upgrade that specifies an increase in PCI speeds from 66 to 133 MHz. Unlike PCI-X, which was drafted by Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and other computer makers, Intel's unannounced upgrade to PCI does not involved a move to 133-MHz speeds. Intel received a copy of the PCI-X specification, also called PCI-133, on Aug. 31, an Intel spokesman said. |