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Microprocessor
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| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of July 12, 1999 |
Older News |
| July 14, 1999 | ||
Intel's Merced chip design completedBy Stephen Shankland and Michael Kanellos July 13, 1999 |
The Merced chip design has been completed, Intel said today, and the company will produce samples of the new 64-bit processor this quarter.
The chip design announcement is a milepost in the Merced schedule, which has been hampered by delays. Intel has said that it expects to begin manufacturing Merced chips in high volumes by mid-2000. Merced is the first in a new line of high-performance microprocessors that Intel hopes will carry it from making chips for mainstream PCs and servers to the lucrative world of providing silicon to manufacturers of huge, heavy-duty servers and minicomputers. Merced and its successors will compete more directly with chips such as the UltraSparc from Sun Microsystems and the Alpha from Compaq Computer. |
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What Is a Seventh-Generation Processor?
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AMD recently introduced Athlon (see MPR 7/12/99, p. 1) as a seventh-generation x86 processor. Indeed, the device was code-named K7 and is the follow-on to the K6, putatively a sixth-generation device. But AMD still has some work to do to prove its seventh-generation credentials.
From a microarchitecture standpoint, AMD's design shows some clear advantages over Intel's sixth-generation Pentium II. But microarchitecture is merely a tool to deliver performance to the end user. Instead of judging a chip by its internal design, I propose qualifying generations on the basis of performance. |
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Via fights Intel suit as National makes chipsBy Richard Ball and Tom Foremski July 14, 1999 |
National Semiconductor has agreed to make chipsets for Via Technologies as the Taiwanese firm battles a patent infringement lawsuit from Intel.
Via's licence to make PC chipsets was recently revoked by Intel, and the National deal is a way of getting parts manufactured, "in a kind of a roundabout way," admitted Sean Davidson, Via's marketing manager. National will manufacture chipsets using the Intel P6 bus for Via which is also buying National's Cyrix PC microprocessor business. Via hopes that National's
cross licensing agreement with Intel will protect it from Intel's legal claims - but that strategy could backfire. |
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512-Mbit DRAM finding support in JapanBy Anthony Cataldo July 13, 1999 |
Support is growing among Japanese chip makers for the development of 512-Mbit DRAMs, as manufacturers struggle with the economics of mass producing 1-gigabit DRAMs and with meeting the granularity requirements of upcoming PCs.
NEC Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. each said in recent interviews that they will offer 512-Mbit DRAMs concurrently with 256-Mbit devices. The move is similar to suppliers' current offering of a 128-Mbit DRAM, which is now coming into high volume production, to bridge the 64-Mbit and 256-Mbit generations. |
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Intel earnings fall shortBy Michael Kanellos July 13, 1999 |
Cheap PCs took their toll on Intel's second-quarter profits as the chipmaking giant reported earnings of $1.7 billion, or 51 cents a share, below the consensus estimate of 53 cents.
The disappointing showing had been eagerly awaited by investors, who were split over whether ongoing processor and PC price wars were affecting the company's bottom line. Some said Intel's aggressive pricing and the popularity of its low-cost Celeron chips would dent earnings. Others speculated that sales of server chips would neutralize any damage caused in the desktop arena. |
See Today's Related Stories |
Intel execs confident about remainder of yearBy Sergio G. Non July 14, 1999 |
Anticipate a normal year, said executives with the world's largest maker of PC processors.
"What we've actually seen ... is a pretty perfectly normal first half," said Andy Bryant, chief financial officer of Intel Corp., following the company's release of second-quarter earnings Tuesday evening. "Based on all the interest we've gathered, we believe it'll be a pretty good second half." Despite reporting earnings that fell 2 cents short of Wall Street expectations, Intel executives told analysts to "expect the expected." Use history as your guide in forecasting the rest of the year, Bryant said in the course of a conference call. |
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Street Expects 38 Percent 2Q Rise From IntelJuly 13, 1999 |
Intel will be cranking out good news on Tuesday afternoon if analysts have it figured right.
The world's largest chip maker will announce second quarter earnings after the markets close, and analysts surveyed by First Call are expecting a 38 percent rise, to 53 cents a share. That compares with a net of 33 cents, or $1.17 billion, for the same quarter a year ago. Sales are looking good too, and the Street expects an increase of about 18 percent, to $7 billion from $5.9 billion, from last year. Intel has regained some of the market share that it lost last year by cutting prices, analysts said. |
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Intel Cites Seasonal Slowdown In Earnings Shortfall
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Intel Corp. Tuesday blamed a seasonal slowdown for second-quarter financial results that fell slightly short of Wall Street expectations.
Santa Clara-based Intel earned $1.7 billion on $6.7 billion in sales for its second fiscal quarter ended June 26. That compares with $1.2 billion in net income and $5.9 billion in sales in the same quarter last year. Earnings of 51 cents per share compared with First Call Corp. consensus estimates of 53 cents per share. |
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THE DAY AHEAD: Is Intel's future half empty or half full?By Larry Dignan July 14, 1999 |
Analysts can't agree Intel Corp.'s (Nasdaq: INTC) prospects and the company didn't do anything to settle the debate with its earnings. Is
Intel's future half empty or half full?
When a company misses estimates, but is bullish on its upcoming quarters it normally indicates one of two things: Either the company is trying to cover its tail because it fumbled the latest quarter or the outlook is actually bright. Given Intel's track record as a straight shooter, you can bet on the latter. |
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| The Register Files | ||
VIA to set up fab venture with TSMCBy Mike Magee July 14, 1999 |
Asian wire Nikkei is reporting that VIA will set up a joint venture with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to produce chips.
That will happen once VIA has concluded its negotiations to buy Cyrix, according to the reports. And the wire is reporting that VIA thinks it will have 10 per cent of the global x.86 market in two years' time. |
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AMD fabs first copper parts, 1GHz Athlon by year end?By John Lettice July 13, 1999 |
AMD's new Dresden Fab 30 is not only complete, as we mentioned yesterday, but has run off its first CPUs with copper interconnects. German publication c't reports (in German) plant managing director Hans Deppe as saying that working copper K6 chips have already been produced.
Deppe declined to say what the yield was, but was happy with the first production runs. Dresden staff are confident that the process will be capable of producing 1GHz speed Athlons by year end. |
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Socket Eight to S370 convertors comingBy Mike Magee July 14, 1999 |
Several Japanese sites are billing an adaptor which allows the conversion of Pentium Pro's Socket Eight to a Socket 370 configuration.
The systems are set to arrive in early August, and will allow single and dual Socket Eight motherboards to take Celeron S370 processors at multiple speeds, again in single and dual combos. The Pentium Pro came in speeds of 100, 150 and 200MHz, so the upgrade may give old systems a boost. |
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What the Hell is…GeyservilleBy Peter Sherriff July 14, 1999 |
It's a small town in California chosen by Chipzilla to provide the codename for its forthcoming 0.18 micron mobile Coppermine processors - the first mobiles to bear the Pentium III brand. Due out at the end of this year (so don't hold your breath, folks, Q1 2000 would be a much safer bet) Geyserville technology is supposed to mark the point where the performance gap between desktop and mobile
horsepower disappears.
The plan is that new chips running faster than 633MHz will be launched in both desktop and mobile guises at the same time, simultaneously and together. |
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Merced taped outBy Mike Magee July 14, 1999 |
Intel has managed to tape out its design for the Merced IA-64 microprocessor.
That means that samples are likely to be with customers within eight weeks or so. Paul Otellini, a senior VP at Intel, confirmed the news at a conference call following the release of its Q2 financial results. |
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| Today's Related Stories | ||
Intel misses Q2 estimates, predicts strong second halfBy Sergio G. Non July 13, 1999 |
Revenues came in roughly as expected for Intel Corp. in the second quarter, although earnings came up shy of
analysts' estimates. Still, the microprocessor giant expects things to pick up in the second half of this
year.
In second-quarter results released after the market closed Tuesday, Intel posted net income of $1.75 billion, or 51 cents a share. First Call's survey of 31 analysts predicted a per-share profit of 53 cents. Earnings were up 49 percent from the $1.2 billion in second-quarter 1998. They were down 13 percent from first-quarter 1999 income of $2 billion. Second-quarter sales of $6.75 billion represent a 13.8 percent increase year-over-year and a 5 percent decline from the first quarter -- the low range of analyst estimates. |
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Intel falls short of 2nd-quarter profit forecast
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Intel Corp. showed the effects of its long-running price war with Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday as the Santa Clara-based chip giant's earnings for the second quarter fell short of Wall Street's expectations.
But even as it detailed the cost of doing battle, Intel promised analysts a much stronger second half of the year. For the second quarter of 1999, Intel reported profits of $1.7 billion, or 51 cents a share, up from $1.2 billion, or 33 cents a share, a year ago but falling short of the 53-cents-per-share consensus estimate from analysts. Revenue rose to $6.7 billion from $5.9 billion. |
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Intel reports lower than expected second quarterJuly 14, 1999 |
Intel Corp. reported Tuesday that its second-quarter profit rose 49 percent, but the results failed to meet Wall Street expectations amid a shift in company sales to less expensive computer chips.
Intel, the world's largest maker of microprocessor chips, said it earned $1.75 billion, or 51 cents a share, two cents below Wall Street expectations. That compared to a profit of $1.17 billion, or 33 cents a share, in the second quarter of 1998. Revenue rose 14 percent to $6.75 billion from $5.93 billion. |
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| July 13, 1999 | ||
HotRail licenses K7 bus for multiprocessor chip setsBy Will Wade July 12, 1999 |
Core-logic startup HotRail Inc. (formerly Poseidon Technology) has announced a licensing agreement with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to use the K7 and Alpha buses for an upcoming core-logic product that will support up to eight microprocessors running in a single server or workstation. The company expects to roll out the device some time next year.
"We are the only company we know of that is playing in this market," said Rick Shriner, president and chief executive officer of HotRail (San Jose, Calif.), a 50-person venture. "We're the only people who are even close to delivering something like this that will support the K7." |
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New man on K7 hot seat at AMDJuly 12, 1999 |
Somebody new is sitting on the hot seat now at Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
James E. Doran, 51, will take over as vice president and general manager of the troubled chip maker's AMD Saxony Manufacturing GmbH in Dresden, Germany, the company said today. Initial production of the company's critical K7 microprocessor is slated to begin at this plant -- Fab 30 -- by the end of 1999 (see story in Dec. 15, 1998, print publication of SBN). Fab 30, the most advanced chip plant ever built by AMD, will make only the K7, which is vital to the future of AMD in that it could -- if early reports are any indication -- move the company ahead of Intel in MPU technology. |
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Hitachi launches 266-MHz 256-Mbit DDR SDRAMBy Jack Robertson July 12, 1999 |
Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc. here today introduced what it claimed was the industry's first double-data rate PC-266 256-megabit synchronous DRAM, with sample products shipping immediately. Production quantities are expected to start delivery in November.
Andrew Peng, DRAM product manager for the U.S.-subsidiary of Hitachi, said PC servers are expected to be the initial application. Next year he hoped that the DDR 256-Mbit chip would start finding its way in higher end PC desktops and workstations. |
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Intel earnings on track, AMD decline expectedBy Michael Kanellos July 13, 1999 |
The processor price war that's been raging all year is taking its toll on chipmakers.
Intel, which will report its second-quarter results after the market closes today, is expected to report earnings of 53 cents a share on revenue of between $6.6 billion and $6.9 billion, according to a consensus poll taken by First Call. That represents a slight downturn from last quarter, but improves upon results from one year ago, when Intel had to contend with a worldwide oversupply of computers. Tomorrow, AMD is expected to report a loss of around $200 million, or $1.26 a share. |
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Street expects Intel to report a 38% rise in second-quarter netJuly 12, 1999 |
Intel Corp. will be cranking out good news here tomorrow afternoon (July 13), if analysts have it figured right.
The world's largest chip maker will announce second quarter earnings after the markets close, and analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. are expecting a 38% rise to 53 cents a share. That compares with a net of 33 cents or $1.17 billion that is reported for the second quarter last year. Sales are looking good too, and the Street expects an increase here to $7 billion, up about 18% from $5.9 billion recorded last year. Intel has regained some of the market share that it lost last year, analysts said, by cutting prices. |
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| The Register Files | ||
Eight way AMD K7 chipset on cardsBy Mike Magee July 13, 1999 |
AMD has licensed Poseidon to produce SMP chipsets for the Athlon K7.
And, at the same time, Poseidon has changed its name to HotRail and secured funding from a spate of VCs. HotRail has described a simultaneous switched matrix (SSM) system that will support multiple K7s with up to eight processors. |
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| July 12, 1999 | ||
Will Intel's first IA64 chip be ready for prime time?By Michael Lattig July 8, 1999 |
Although Intel maintains that Merced, its first attempt at a chip for the IA-64 architecture, will not be "designed or marketed as some type of development tool," there are rumblings that the chip is merely a stepping stone to the second-generation IA-64 chip, code-named McKinley.
"Everyone will like Merced, but it will be used as a development platform, for [functions such as] getting the operating system tuned," said Tejas Vakil, vice president of server marketing at Dell. That sentiment seems to sum up the growing consensus among Intel's partners and customers. Although IA64 will be a revolutionary step in server architectures, that revolution is unlikely to occur as soon as Intel would hope. |
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Intel clocks up chip speedsBy Martin Veitch July 12, 1999 |
With AMD's rival Athlon processor waiting in the wings, Intel will this month introduce its 600MHz Pentium III processor.
At the same time, on 28 July, the firm will offer a 500MHz Celeron processor that will be only marginally slower but will be priced at a fraction of the cost. Intel's 600MHz PIII will be something of a stopgap, designed to make up for the delay to the chip codenamed Coppermine that has been pushed back to a November release. |
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Editorial: Good luck following the DRDRAM sagaBy Jack Robertson July 9, 1999 |
Confused about Intel Corp.'s upcoming 820 Camino chipsets and launch of Direct Rambus memory? Welcome to the fold.
Intel is adamant that Direct Rambus will launch in September in all three speed versions, including 600 MHz, which has little PC-OEM interest; 700 MHz (actually 711 MHz); and 800 MHz. Supply and pricing of 700- and 800-MHz Direct RDRAM at launch are to be determined. Intel will simultaneously introduce two versions of the 820 chipset that will support Direct RDRAM memory for desktop PCs. One version will support all three speed grades, while the other-nicknamed by the industry Camino Light-will support 600- and 800-MHz Direct RDRAM speeds, but not the 700-MHz variety. |
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Hitachi readies 256-Mbit DDR DRAMBy David Lammers July 12, 1999 |
Hitachi Ltd. will sample double-data-rate 256-Mbit DRAMs next month, and claims it will be the first DRAM vendor to do so.
Andrew Peng, DRAM marketing manager at Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc., said the DDR capability will provide a peak data bandwidth of 2.1 Gbytes/second at a core frequency of 133 MHz, and a random access time of 30 ns. By reading data from both the rising and falling edges of a clock, DDR parts achieve a higher peak bandwidth than SDRAMs that run at the same clock frequency. |
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| The Register Files | ||
China says no to Pentium III, chip IDs and Win98By John Lettice July 9, 1999 |
Intel is facing major problems in selling Pentium III into China, it would appear. Strange but true, although you'd expect the Chinese regime to be keen on control-freakery of all sorts, it has a major downer on the Personal Serial Number (PSN) built into Pentium III.
According to a report in the Guangming Daily, the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII) has identified "hidden perils in Pentium III and Win98" (so Microsoft's control-freakery is causing angst as well), and has advised government agencies accordingly. Said a spokesman: "We have conducted serious research and thus acquired a thorough knowledge of hidden security perils in PIII chips, Win98 as well as servers produced by different companies." |
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Intel changes Inside plan to squeeze OEMs using competing chipsBy Mike Magee July 9, 1999 |
An OEM told The Register today that Intel changed its Intel Inside plan this week to put pressure on companies wanting to sell AMD, Cyrix and other competing microprocessors.
But Intel was swift to rebut the suggestion, saying that the OEM had possibly misunderstood the programme and should contact his local representative. The OEM, who said he did not want to be named, said: "Until now, Intel refunded 60 per cent of an advert for PCs, as long as the many requirements about the Intel Inside logos were respected AND there was no other CPU brand in the same ad. We can understand that, who would sponsor adverts for the competition." |
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Merced: is it sunrise or sunset?By Adamson Rust July 11, 1999 |
Debate over whether Intel's Merced processor is late, has now entered the realm of mediaeval theology, with the argument resembling the old chestnut about how many angels can sit on the point of a needle.
And Intel itself has taken the stance that mid-1999 can mean anything from June to September, thus raising a debate over whether the chip giant is using the Gregorian or Julian calendar. A local tourist blurb describes Merced thus: "Beginning in the high country of Yosemite National Park, the Merced River makes a headlong rush through glacially-carved canyons, rugged mountains and foothills to the San Joaquin Valley. Ample access points allow you to punch rapids at your own pace. Hook a trout and plunk it in a pan over an open fire." The mountains in the background of the mugshot are in Yosemite, so meaning the Merced sun is rising. |
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Meta Smalltalk patent spat assumes Merced meaningBy Mike Magee July 12, 1999 |
New factors in the ongoing patent case between ILDF shareholders and other parties, including Intel, have emerged.
The patent in question, as reported here earlier, relates to a putative Mac founded company, International Meta Systems, which created the idea for a processor called the Meta 3240, a Smalltalk-based system. Now it appears that Intel may have wanted the patent because the Meta 3240 and its later rev the Meta 3250, could have helped the chip giant bridge things for its up-and-coming Merced processor. |
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Intel's IA64 EPIC like a snake swallowing a hamsterBy Mike Magee July 9, 1999 |
A senior architect said today that Merced may be pushed up the food chain because the possibilities to produce real silicon might well be remote.
It would be a simplification, he said, while he was quaffing his jar of peanut better. HP's EPIC VLIW software, he said, "is somewhat like a snake swallowing a hamster". The architect was responding to our story earlier this week which talked about optimizing processes on real Merced silicon. |
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The Intel roadmap, according to IntelBy Mike Magee July 12, 1999 |
As we speculate, talk to Intel OEMs and distributors, and pick up information from the world and its dog, let us never forget that Chipzilla does disclose some elements of its future.
So, then, take a decko at this page to see how Intel sees its roadmap developing during the second half of this year and the first half of next year. The mid to high end workstation market is particularly interesting, because we see that Intel will introduce what it describes as Internet Streaming SIMD instructions. It says a Profusion eight way chipset is "on target" in Q3. The Internet SIMD instructions are just another name for the SIMD instructions, but with that extra Intel spinology. |
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AMD K7: 700MHz an easy overclockBy Mike Magee July 9, 1999 |
Sources close to AMD said today that overclocking Athlon K7s is an easy matter, with systems builders easily able to achieve speeds of 700MHz.
But things could get even better for overclocking freaks, because the same source said that AMD is likely to introduce a 750MHz part either late in Q3 or early in Q4 this year. If AMD continues its policy of supporting gamers willing to overclock their parts, that could mean some very fast systems will emerge, knocking spots off the Intel competition, he said. |
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Builder spills beans about AMD fabBy A. Staffer July 12, 1999 |
Information from a builder about AMD's Fab 30 factory in Dresden provides some interesting facts about capacity, size and the loans involved.
According to UK based M+W Pearce, Fab 30 cost DM500 million while investment over the next seven years will amount to DM3 billion. This figure consists of three separate investments from the Dresdner Bank, the German government and AMD itself, with the German government providing the lion's share. |
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Third party K7 mobos peek over parapetBy Mike Magee July 12, 1999 |
A list of third party support for Athlon has arrived, including information about motherboard manufacturers.
The information, listed at AMDZONE, shows that Gigabyte, Microstar, Asus, FIC and BioStar will produce motherboards for the K7. An AMD representative said this morning that full details are now on the Athlon (K7) FAQ at AMD's site. As revealed here earlier, K7 Athlons will become available in the first week of August, so many of these products are likely to arrive then, or soon afterwards. |
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