| April 16, 1999 |
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By Dan Goodin
April 15, 1999
C/Net
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One of the four Federal Trade Commission
members who must approve the agency's proposed settlement
of antitrust charges against Intel spoke out against the
deal, saying it will be hard to enforce. But the
remaining FTC commissioners applauded the proposal, which
was announced last month and settles charges that Intel
used its dominance in the microchip industry to stifle
competition. The majority's support means the deal is
likely to be approved when commissioners vote on the
deal, probably in early summer.
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By George Leopold
April 15, 1999
EE Times
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Members of the Federal Trade Commission
disagree on the fundamental question of whether Intel
Corp. possesses a monopoly of the market for
general-purpose microprocessors, according to comments
released by the agency today (April 15). The statements
nevertheless indicate that the FTC will vote soon to
approve the proposed deal to settle the antitrust case
the FTC had filed against Intel.
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By Alex Wolfe
April 12, 1999
Byte Magazine
|
This is the first installment of a
series of Byte.com columns that will explore the inner
workings of Intel's new IA-64 bit architecture --
officially dubbed EPIC (for explicitly parallel
instruction computing) -- and its first incarnation, the
Merced microprocessor. Usually, deconstructing a new
microprocessor architecture begins with an understanding
of the hardware. But in the case of the 64-bit Merced
CPU, which Intel says will hit the market in mid-2000,
software plays an important and intriguing role in
ensuring that the chip works properly.
Indeed, compilers in the works for Merced have
received scant attention amid the intense emphasis on
details of the chip's highly parallel hardware
architecture, but that software will be the key factor in
how rapidly Merced moves into real-world usage.
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By Richard Richtmyer
April 15, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
|
Semiconductor stocks this week gave back
the gains they had made earlier in the month amid growing
investor concern about the strength of the PC market and
the lighter-than-expected first-quarter revenue posted by
industry bellwether Intel Corp.The 27 stocks that make up
the semiconductor segment of the EBN/Thomas Weisel
Supply-Chain Index had the biggest movement for the week
ended April 14, landing 6.66% lower and contributing
largely to the 5.93% decline of the EBN composite index.
(For current index standings, visit www.nordby.com/ebn) "Over
the last couple of weeks there was a huge momentum play
in the semiconductor sector," said Dan Scovel of
Fahnestock & Co., New York. "A lot of it was
driven by the health of the PC market, and we've now sort
of lost that catalyst."
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By Warren S. Hersch
April 15, 1999
Computer Reseller News
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Shares of chip manufacturer Advanced
Micro Devices Inc. rose nearly 12 percent in Thursday
stock trading after the company posted
better-than-expected first-quarter results. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average also ended the session strongly,
rising 51 points to close at 10,462.72. The
technology-heavy Nasdaq increased nearly 15 points,
finishing at 2,522.18.
AMD closed up $1.69 to end at $16.44.
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By Michael Kanellos
April 15, 1999
C/Net
|
The clock is ticking for Rambus. Although
the company has been virtually anointed as the standard
bearer for the future of computer memory, Rambus has been
saddled with product delays and technical glitches in
1999, which in turn have delayed the debut of
Rambus-based PCs from the middle of the year to the end
of the third quarter. The company yesterday reported
single digit growth in revenues and earnings for its
second fiscal quarter.
But even more critical, the company could start to
feel the squeeze of cheaper alternatives and the
industry's obsession with keeping desktop prices as low
as possible. The technology is great, nearly everyone
agrees, but how many people are going to pay for it?
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By Andrew MacLellan
April 15, 1999
Semiconductor Business News
|
Memory architect Rambus Inc. here today
said earnings for the remainder of 1999 will be flat at
best, following word earlier this year from development
partner Intel Corp. that the introduction of its Camino
chipset will be delayed until late in the third quarter
(see Feb. 10 story). The company had hoped 1999 would
prove to be a banner year. Having worked with Intel since
late 1996 promoting Direct Rambus DRAM -- a high-speed
memory technology for use in next-generation
Pentium-based Pcs -- Rambus was about to see its ship
come in. Several of its licensees in the DRAM market were
expected to bring Direct RDRAM to volume production, and
many industry analysts were forecasting Rambus chips to
account for a significant percentage of all DRAM
shipments this year.
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| The Register Files |
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By Mike Magee
April 15, 1999
The Register
|
Inside Intel, there is a deal (or a
competition) where if someone gets hold of an AMD K7 and
its details, the successful winner will get $3,000. But
at The Register, here in London, we will pay $2,000 for
the same part.
We will then attempt to sell it to Intel for $2,500,
thus making $500 on the part.
We know samples are out there and we are serious. Give
us a K7 sample, Dell and Gateway, or whoever, and we will
pay you $2,000.
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By Peter Sherriff
April 15, 1999
The Register
|
Following hot on the heels of AMD’s
tragic Q1 results, Intel is twisting the knife by showing
OEMs performance predictions stretching out until late
2000 featuring a Willamette IA32 processor rated at
1100MHz competing with an AMD K7 at a paltry 666MHz. No
specific figures are quoted, but graphs pitting the rival
chips against each other show the Willamette 1110MHz
scoring around the 50 mark in Winstone98 against the K7
666MHz at 35. On SpecInt95, Willamette reaches 43 against
the AMD part’s 20.
The same graph shows a 666MHz Coppermine appearing in
late 1999, a clear 12 months before AMD is expected to
reach the magical figure.
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By Mike Magee
April 15, 1999
The Register
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For a company that is supposed to be the
underdog, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), seems to be
getting little respite. Yesterday evening it turned in
bad financial results but the class actions just keep
coming.
The latest this week are from Paul Nold, David Eidman,
David Wu and Hossein Mirzaie, all naming both AMD and CEO
Jerry Sanders III as defendants.
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By Peter Sherriff
April 15, 1999
The Register
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The latest and greatest Celeron launches
in a couple of weeks time alongside the highly-integrated
810 chipset. The 810 rather mysteriously supports both
66MHz and 100MHz front side bus speeds – Celeron isn’t
due to move on up to 100MHz FSB until early 2000 and
there’s still a 100MHz/66MHz FSB Celeron due out
later in the year.
Intel has denied that the 810 will be able to support
Pentium II processors so it’s not easy to see
exactly why 100MHz is on offer right now, unless there’s
a Socket 370 Coppermine waiting in the wings (something
Intel’s Paul Otellini has denied).
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By Peter Sherriff
April 15, 1999
The Register
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While Intel blunders around in the
midrange market trying to decide whether to go for PC133
SDRAM on the creaky old BX platform or to hang on hoping
Camino will show up sooner rather than later with its
support for direct RAMbus memory, the workstation guys
are quietly getting on with the job of bringing the 820's
big brother to market sometime in late summer. The
i840 will come in two flavours – the standard dual
processor variant for Pentium III or PIII Xeon and the
high-end, four-way i840-QP for PIII Xeon alone.
Intel has two 840 motherboards in the pipeline –
the low end Outrigger and the all-singing, all-dancing
Brigantine, both scheduled for launch in mid Q3.
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By Peter Sherriff
April 15, 1999
The Register
|
It’s all change, but maybe not as
fast as everyone thought Turns out that sockets will
eventually be the order of the day for Intel, at least at
the high end (as The Register has been pointing out for
some considerable time).
The mysterious Foster 32-bit chip, due to appear at
the same time as Merced in late summer next year, will
materialise in a PGA socket boasting no fewer than 504
pins which rather stuffs any plans for upgrading from a
Slot 1 Pentium III.
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| April 15, 1999 |
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April 14, 1999
Electronic Buyer's News
|
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. reported a
staggering $128.4 million loss for its first fiscal
quarter, although the company beat Wall Street's loss
projections by four cents. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based
company's loss came on revenue of $631.6 million for its
first quarter ended March 28. The loss equated to a loss
of 88 cents a share. Analysts expected a loss of 92 cents
a share.
Revenue declined by 20% from the $788.8 million
reported in the immediately-prior quarter when AMD turned
a profit of $22.3 million, or 15 cents per share. But
revenue increased 17% from a year ago, when AMD recorded
a net loss of $62.7 million, or 44 cents per share on
revenue of $540.9 million.
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By Michael Kanellos
April 14, 1999
C/Net
|
Advanced Micro Devices reported a loss
of 88 cents a share--81 cents a share excluding
restructuring charges--on revenues of $631.6 million for
the first quarter, perversely topping analysts' dour,
revised expectations. In dollar terms, the loss
amounted to $128.4 million with $15 million going to
one-time charges.
The poor showing largely owes to low yields and
production problems associated with the fastest K6-2
processors, declining processor prices, and high
fixed-costs, the company said. AMD expects to lay off 300
employees in the near future.
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By Marcia Savage
April 14, 1999
Computer Reseller News
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As expected, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
has posted dismal first-quarter earnings; however, the
chip maker surpassed Wall Street expectations. AMD
Wednesday announced a loss of 88 cents per share,
including a $15 million charge for restructuring and
other special charges. Prior to the charge, AMD's net
loss would have been 81 cents per share. First Call
Corp.'s consensus estimates had predicted a loss of 92
cents per share.
For the quarter ended March 28, AMD, based here,
posted a net loss of $128.4 million on $631.6 million in
sales. That compares with a net loss of $62.7 million on
$540.8 million in sales for the same quarter last year.
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By Robert Lemos
April 14, 1999
ZD Net News
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PC chip maker Advanced Micro Devices
Inc. is expected to announce grim news on Wednesday --
manufacturing snafus have driven down the company's
yields of its most lucrative processors, leaving AMD
selling far too few, and far too unprofitable,
processors. The result: Revenues are expected to slide
to $630 million on an average selling price per chip of
$78, the company said last week in its third earnings
warning this quarter.
Previously, company Chairman and CEO W. J. Sanders III
said that AMD needed to earn $100 per chip on average to
be profitable.
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By Edward F. Moltzen
April 14, 1999
Computer Reseller News
|
Intel Corp. will have samples of its
64-bit Merced processor available within three to four
months and still is on track to put the chip into
production by the middle of next year, said the company's
chief executive, Craig Barrett. Barrett also told an
audience at Compaq Computer Corp.'s Innovate 99 partner
conference that the company will have new Geyserville
mobile computer technology out by year's end to boost
laptop battery life and performance.
Barrett's Merced predictions have been the most
optimistic pronouncements by Intel since it said last
year that Merced's ship date would slip.
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| The Register Files |
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By Mike Magee
April 14, 1999
The Register
|
Hardware site CPU Review has published a
set of benchmarks which claims that the Linux kernel
compiles 16 per cent faster on an AMD processor than an
Intel chip. According to reviewer Bill Henning:
"The fastest x86 CPU I've tested to date (April 12,
1999) for kernel compilation is the AMD K6-III/400. While
it is priced about 3.8 per cent higher than a Pentium II
400, it is more than 16 per cent faster at compiling the
Linux kernel".
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By Mike Magee
April 14, 1999
The Register
|
A flood of emails and articles on the
World Wide Web has prompted the Intel engineer that said
Apple and Intel are cuddling up to respond to critiques. The
engineer, who tipped us off about the story on Sunday,
said: "I am a regular reader of Macnn and
AppleInsider
"The funny thing about the article and the
message boards at macnn is that everybody thinks this is
completely unreasonable because they wish it to be.
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| April 14, 1999 |
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By Edward F. Moltzen
April 13, 1999
Computer Reseller News
|
Intel Corp. will have samples of its
64-bit Merced processor available within three to four
months and still is on track to put the chip into
production by the middle of next year, said the company's
chief executive, Craig Barrett. Barrett also told an
audience at Compaq Computer Corp.'s Innovate 99 partner
conference that the company will have new Geyserville
mobile computer technology out by year's end to boost
laptop battery life and performance.
Barrett's Merced predictions have been the most
optimistic pronouncements by Intel since it said last
year that Merced's ship date would slip.
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By David Kalish
March13, 1999
SiliconValley.com
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Intel Corp. sent a reassuring signal
that problems in the personal computer business may be
mostly confined to its biggest chip customer, Compaq
Computer Corp. First-quarter profits at Intel, the
world's largest maker of personal computer chips, rose 57
percent, beating Wall Street forecasts, while revenue
jumped 18 percent.
Not all the news was good. Intel also said it expected
second-quarter revenue to stay the same or fall slightly
from its first-quarter revenue of $7.1 billion, citing
``seasonal factors'' in the microprocessor business. That
disappointed some analysts who expected a slight
increase.
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By Marcia Savage
April 13, 1999
Computer Reseller News
|
Intel Corp. Tuesday barely beat Wall
Street expectations for its first fiscal quarter. The
chip heavyweight earned 57 cents per share, compared with
First Call Corp.'s consensus estimates of 55 cents per
share. The per share amount was adjusted to reflect the
2-for-1 stock split paid to stockholders on Sunday, Intel
said.
For the quarter ended March 27, Intel earned $2
billion on $7.1 billion in sales. That compares with $1.3
billion on $6 billion in sales the same quarter last
year.
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By Michael Kanellos
April 13, 1999
C/Net
|
Intel topped earnings estimates by
reporting net income of $2 billion today, or 57 cents a
share after accounting for a split, but sales were lower
than expected. Revenue for the quarter came to $7.1
billion, an increase over revenues of $6 billion for the
same period in 1998, but lower than the $7.5 billion
analysts were expecting. Profits didn't sink accordingly,
because Intel accelerated ongoing cost cutting efforts
and gained $347.9 million in outside investments, more
than the expected $200 million.
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By Michael Kanellos
April 13, 1999
C/Net
|
Despite the surge in demand for sub-$600
computers, high-end Pentium III-based PCs have managed to
rack up "respectable" sales among consumers,
according to one market research firm, providing some
hope to PC makers who have been pummeling each other in
the low-cost PC arena. Systems based on the Pentium
III processor, which debuted in February, accounted for
approximately 9 percent of U.S. retail computer sales in
March and have helped raise average selling prices for
consumer boxes, said Stephen Baker, computer analyst with
PC Data.
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| The Register File |
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By Mike Magee
April 13, 1999
The Register
|
Chip company AMD has posted a
presentation it made at last week's Winhec conference
which shows more details of the future of the K7. The
full presentation, made by Fred Weber, from AMD's
computation division, is available as a Powerpoint file
here.
In the slides, Weber says that the K7 is 500MHz now,
and will be 1GHz next year, and will support 1394 and
agp4x.
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By Mike Magee
April 13, 1999
The Register
|
As reported here earlier this year,
Intel will shift its Pentium III platform to a socketed
design during the course of the summer. That is in
line with Intel's .18 micron Coppermine plans, revealed
here yesterday.
Although the company is keeping tight lipped about the
exact specification, it is likely that early systems (and
motherboards) will be shown at the Computex trade show in
Taiwan in June. (We will be attending).
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| April 13, 1999 |
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By Michael Kanellos
April 12, 1999
C/Net
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It will be a black and red week for the
semiconductor industry. Both Intel and AMD will
provide their first quarter financial results this week,
and the differences are expected to be stark, the net
effects of a gouging processor price war, according to
most analysts.
Intel is expected to report $1.10 in earnings per
share tomorrow, according to a consensus of analysts on
First Call, a 26-percent jump in profits over the same
period a year before. Profits, however, are down from the
quarter before because of seasonal weakness in PC demand,
and some analysts have begun to express concerns about
earnings in future quarters because of declining PC
prices.
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April 12, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
|
As expected, both Intel Corp. and
Advanced Micro Devices lowered the prices of their
microprocessors on Sunday. Intel Corp., Santa Clara,
Calif. dropped prices on its desktop Pentium III chips,
as well as some of the company's mobile microprocessors.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD cut prices on its entire
desktop product lineup.
The price of Intel's 500-MHz Pentium III dropped 8% to
$637, while the 450-MHz version dropped 17% to $411.
Prices of the Pentium II dropped as well: the 450-MHz
chip was cut 17% to $396; the 400-MHz part dropped 18% to
$234, and the 350-MHz version fell 4% to $163.
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| The Register Files |
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By Mike Magee
April 12, 1999
The Register
|
A distributor said today that he had a
copy of an Intel roadmap which showed that .18 micron
Coppermine technology will include 256K of on-die cache. The
cache will be on both Pentium IIIs and Pentium III Xeons,
according to the source, who declined to be named.
The technology is waiting for the chipset to arrive
but is expected to proliferate during the second half of
this year, he said.
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By Mike Magee
April 12, 1999
The Register
|
When we had our trip of Intel's
Albuquerque fab earlier this year, we were somewhat
alarmed when our guide said the local authorities had
complained about its use of water. Albuquerque, being
one mile high and in a desert, does not have a limitless
supply of H2O and fab plants drink millions of gallons of
the stuff.
With this in mind, we took care on our trip round the
fab to look out for backup plans, in case water or
electricity should fail.
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By Peter Sherriff
April 12, 1999
The Register
|
Time was when Chipzilla's OEMs could
relax in the knowledge that CPU speeds would go up and
prices would come down. Then the Celeron appeared a
year ago and muddied the waters. Sure, the first
Covingtom Celerons were real dogs, lacking any L2 cache
and being all-too-obviously a knee-jerk reaction to
pressure from AMD in the the sub $1,000 system
marketplace, but the real Celerons based on the Mendocino
core have turned out to be probably the best chip Intel
has ever produced in terms of bang per buck.
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| April 12, 1999 |
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By Mark Hachman
April 9, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
|
Intel Corp. has discovered a bug in
multiprocessor systems running under Windows 2000, the
forthcoming operating system from Microsoft Corp. The
error is tied to the PIIX4E south bridge of Intel's 450NX
core logic chipset. Microsoft has begun notifying OEMs
that in multiprocessor systems using the 450NX platform
the commands to put the microprocessors in a low-power
"sleep mode" may produce errors. At this time,
Microsoft does not know whether a software workaround is
possible, according to Microsoft's support documentation.
However, OEMs must produce a solution by the time
Microsoft begins Windows Logo certification on July 1.
Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system is still in
beta form, with a final release expected in the second
half of 1999.
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By Will Wade
April 9, 1999
EE Times
|
Once-mighty graphics accelerator vendor
S3 Inc. and core-logic design house Via Technologies Inc.
have announced an agreement to jointly develop
combination core-logic and graphics chips for the
explosive low end of the personal-computer market. The
move, the second of its kind in recent months, indicates
the seriousness with which the chip industry is
responding to plunging PC prices. It further suggests
that the new market — in which "free"
seems to be the only final offer — may ruthlessly
punish those who have made performance their mandate.
Specifically, S3 and Via plan to collaborate on
integrated products that will combine the graphics
controller, frame buffer and north-bridge functions of a
PC on one chip. The expected product line will support
microprocessors from both Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro
Devices Inc., and the first chips could be available by
the second half.
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April 9, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
|
In an uncharacteristic move, Intel Corp.
is providing a sneak peak at the processor and chipset
roadmaps that the chip giant provides to its system OEM
customers. Intel notes that system availability in
different channels may vary and that the statements made
in the roadmaps are based on “current
expectations,” and actual results may “differ
materially.”
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By Michael Kanellos
April 9, 1999
C/Net
|
Intel and Advanced Micro Devices will
sharply cut prices across all desktop and notebook
products this weekend, the latest round in a processor
pricing war that has decimated profits for AMD. The
price cuts come as the two chipmakers prepare to announce
their first-quarter financial results next week.
Intel is expected to report earnings of $1.10 per
share on Tuesday, according to a consensus of analysts on
First Call, while AMD is likely to report losses of about
52 cents a share. The latter's troubles partly stem from
manufacturing difficulties, but mostly from price
pressure in the consumer PC markets.
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By Jack Robertson
April 9, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
|
Rambus Inc. has added a 700-MHz speed
grade to its Direct Rambus DRAM specification in a move
to help DRAM suppliers improve early yields of the
device, EBN has learned. Though they refused to discuss
specific yields, some DRAM makers privately confirmed
that a significant portion of the industry has been
hard-pressed to achieve the 800-MHz frequency defined in
the original spec. Rather than their having to struggle
with poor output, it is now hoped that suppliers will
sell large volumes of
the 700-MHz Direct RDRAM devices while they continue
to refine their manufacturing processes.
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By Jack Robertson
April 9, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
|
A broad-based industry-standards group
is quietly releasing the first details of a
double-data-rate SDRAM follow-on specification, expected
to run two to three times faster than today's
highest-speed DRAM. Known as DDR-2, the next-generation
standard could result in silicon as early as 2001, and is
being touted as a replacement for DDR SDRAM in a wide
range of PC, workstation, and graphics applications. A
JEDEC subcommittee comprising 50 companies is scheduled
to meet April 21 and 22 in Tokyo in an effort to ready a
final draft specification by June.
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| The Register Files |
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By Peter Sherriff
April 11, 1999
The Register
|
Boffins at Transmeta are having trouble
making their x.86 binary compatible VLIW chip sing,
according to sources in Silicon Valley. The first
attempt to produce a low power chip was not fruitful,
forcing the designers to re-think their strategy.
Our mole claims that after that early failure,
Transmeta then refocussed on high performance, low power
x.86 MPUs based on VLIW architecture. Silicon was not
good.
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By Peter Sherriff
April 11, 1999
The Register
|
Intel's singular failure to deliver the
whizzo new Camino chipset with its 133MHz frontside bus
has thrown plans for the PIII range into more than a
little confusion. The next PIII was due to be a 533MHz
part, shipping around June, but Chipzilla's legendary
ability for missing the (RAM) bus has scuppered that one.
Enter instead the 100MHz FSB PIII 550 using the venerable
BX chipset.
Intel insiders reckon the 550MHz bruiser will cost
around $750 big ones when it appears, meaning its 500MHz
and 450MHz siblings will get the usual $100 or so knocked
off their price tags.
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By Andy Fatkullin
April 11, 1999
The Register
|
Mayor of Moscow Yury Luzko has promised
support for the manufacture of Elbrus International's
microprocessor, the E2k, dubbed the "Merced
killer". Luzkov visited Elbrus with the chiefs of
the Russian academy of sciences, and the minister of
science and technology of the Moscow government.
At the meeting Luzkov, said the Moscow government will
support the Elbrus project with product arriving possibly
as early as next year.
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By Mike Magee
April 11, 1999
The Register
|
We had a huge set of emails after we
wrote our story based on cautionary statements AMD made
about the K7 yesterday. Some were abusive, some were
querulous but many, if not most of them, were very
interesting indeed. SharkyExtreme (see below) says the K7
will arrive in limited quantities in July, not June, and
that two tier one OEMs have samples. That makes sense.
The very well reasoned argument on SharkyExtreme
points out the OEMs are less than happy with the kit
they've received, and suggest that it will not perform as
well as the Pentium III platform...
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By Mike Magee
April 11, 1999
The Register
|
As predicted here earlier this year,
Compaq will show Win64 running on its Alpha platform at
its annual jamboree Innovate in Houston this coming week.
That is likely to cause more heart-fluttering at
Intel's HQ in Santa Clara, as so far Win64 has only
managed to boot on Merced simulators.
Compaq wants to push its fast Alpha 64-bit chip as the
platform of choice at the high-end enterprise level.
However, in so doing, it is playing a high-risk game.
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