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June 4, 1999
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By John Taschek
June 3, 1999
PC Week
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Intel Corp. has suffered a setback this week at the Computex Trade Show as
major motherboard manufacturers said they may delay adoption of RDRAM (Rambus Dynamic
RAM) due to high prices and disappointing performance.
Intel (Nasdaq:INTC) plans to start using the technology in its 820 chip set.
Intel chip sets based on RDRAM technology boost memory bus speed to at least 400MHz from
100MHz and are intended to offer a new level of processing power, since the memory bus has
been a significant bottleneck in applications such as Web servers, high-end graphics and
databases.
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By Mark Carroll
June 3, 1999
EE Times
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Acer Semiconductor
Manufacturing Inc. (ASMI) are currently negotiating for TSMC to take a stake in ASMI's 8-inch wafer
fabrication facility in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Details of the deal could be completed in the next month or two.
The deal has near- and long-term implications for TSMC. "We are at first looking at ASMI as a capacity
provider," a TSMC spokesman said. "This deal is not just a matter of satisfying near-term demand, but is the
beginning of a strategic alliance with Acer Group," the parent of ASMI.
TSMC may buy some ASMI stock from Acer, the majority stockholder in ASMI. "We are still negotiating with
Acer," the TSMC spokesman said. "If it does happen, it will be pretty soon."
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By James Niccolai
June 3, 1999
InfoWorld Electric
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PC makers who try to combine Intel's high-end Pentium III processor with an upcoming chip set designed for low-cost PCs could run into problems, an Intel
official acknowledged Thursday.
The chip maker played down the significance of the issue, and at least one analyst agreed that it should not be a big deal.
The trouble stems from a glitch in the Pentium III processor, which Intel disclosed earlier this year. The glitch -- or "erratum" as Intel prefers to call it -- has
been called MaskMovQ, and relates to the processor's SIMD multimedia instructions, Intel spokesman Dan Francisco said.
Intel has developed a workaround for the glitch, but the fix was not tested to work with Intel's new 810 chip set, which is due out this month.
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The Register Computex Special
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By Mike Magee
June 3, 1999
The Register
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IDT said today that the company was positioning its WinChip2 family as upgrade and
information appliance engines.
Steven Ellis, director of strategic marketing at IDT, said that chips, such as the
Winchip2/200, compared favourably against products such as the Cyrix
MediaGX.
At the same time, he said IDT is positioning some of the products as relatively
inexpensive upgrades for existing machines.
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By Mike Magee
June 3, 1999
The Register
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Sample versions of the Rise Socket 370 microprocessor were on display at the
company's stand today.
We've taken some snaps which we'll post when we get back to our StinkPad later
today.
The processor, called the Tiger, has a 1.8 volt core, and will come supporting PC-100,
PC-133 and PC-266 in the third quarter of this year, said David Lin, CEO of the
startup.
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By Mike Magee
June 3, 1999
The Register
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Some Taiwanese manufacturers are showing notebooks using Intel 440MX chipsets.
The mobile Celeron platform is codenamed Banister.
Chicony is showing two models on its stand -- one, the MP993, supports clock
speeds of up to 500MHz using a PPGA S370 socket and with a 14-inch LCD. It
supports up to 256Mb of memory.
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By Mike Magee
June 3, 1999
The Register
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Sources very close to AMD, in fact in their suite in room 2407 in the Grand Hyatt, said
today that the K7 will be produced for notebooks next year.
The microprocessor will be produced when the K7 moves to .18 micron technology,
said the source.
Currently, AMD is positioning the chip as a solution for the workstation and server
market.
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By Mike Magee
June 3, 1999
The Register
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Chipset company VIA is about to announce PC-133 support for AMD's K7, according
to a major Taiwanese DRAM manufacturer.
Rajit Shah, VP of worldwide sales and marketing, made the announcement at a press
conference in Taiwan this afternoon.
No-one from VIA or AMD was able to confirm or deny the report at press time. But
we'll find out when we track them down.
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By Mike Magee
June 3, 1999
The Register
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Unnamed sources rather close to Intel today revealed the truth about PC-133, Direct
Rambus, VIA and the rest.
According to our extremely reliable source, Intel does have a plan to use PC-133 but
is currently involved in an argy-bargy with VIA over the terms of its
licence.
Intel does not want VIA to release the PC-133 chipset before it releases its own
PC-133 chipset. It thinks VIA's licence precludes the Taiwanese company from so
doing. VIA, unsurprisingly, takes a different view.
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By Mike Magee
June 3, 1999
The Register
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Taiwanese memory company Mosel Vitelic announced today that it would provide
support for the PC-133 standard with 64Mbit and 128Mbit synchronous
DRAMs.
And the company furnished facts and figures about PC-133 vs Direct Rambus market
share which appear to conclusively show that it will be the dominant technology.
According to Mohammad Iqbal, director of worldwide strategic marketing of
memories, in 1999 Rambus is likely to have 1.6 per cent market share, with PC-133
scoring 7.7 per cent.
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June 3, 1999
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By John G. Spooner
Jun 2, 1999
PC Week Online
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PC makers with plans to offer low-cost desktops using Intel Corp.'s Pentium III chip will need to go back to the drawing board
lest their machines hang.
An erratum that affects the Pentium III's SSE or Streaming SIMD multimedia instruction set is keeping Intel's new 810 chip set
from working with the chip.
The erratum, called MaskMovQ, is a Pentium III glitch. And while Intel has created a workaround for it, the 810 doesn't
support it, making it incompatible with the Pentium III. Intel isn't supporting the workaround in the chip set because the 810
was not designed or validated to work with the Pentium III, said Intel spokesman Dan
Fancisco.
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By Ephraim Schwartz
June 2, 1999
InfoWorld Electric
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Intel and HP jointly disclosed details of the IA-64 application architecture last week to give independent software vendors about a year's head start in
developing applications.
Merced, the first IA-64 chip, will ship in the second half of 2000, according to an Intel spokesperson.
Representatives from both companies called the next-generation processor the most significant processor architecture advancement since the Intel
80386, which moved processing from a 16-bit architecture to a 32-bit architecture. Merced will go the next step to 64-bit processing.
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By Owen Thomas
June 2, 1999
Red Herring
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Remember when Intel went Hollywood?
At one point, Intel's investments and acquisitions were all over the
map. The giant chipmaker once seeded Internet publishing companies like CNet
(Nasdaq: CNET) and Launch Media (Nasdaq: LAUN), backed ecommerce efforts like Pandesic
and iCat, and toyed with Internet healthcare initiatives. At one point, Avram Miller, a
former Hollywood producer, oversaw Intel's business development activities.
But media investments have slowed to a trickle. The last major one was an equity stake in iVillage
(Nasdaq: IVIL) in June 1998. Now, rather than feeding the need for multimedia-ready PCs, Intel is making sure its
massive chip factories have products to churn out in the post-PC era.
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By Jack Robertson
June 2, 1999
Semiconductor Business News
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Double-data-rate SDRAM will crack the PC market in graphics chipsets
beginning this fall, a jump-start many memory-chip vendors believe will position DDR as a
high-speed contender in other applications as well.
Micron, Hitachi, Samsung, and other companies are gearing up their DDR graphics programs
months before the double-clocked interface is expected to arrive as main memory in desktop
PCs and servers.
"Getting an early start as dedicated memory in graphics chipsets will definitely boost DDR," said
Jim Sogas, director of DRAM business operations at Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc. in
San Jose.
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By Will Wade
June 2, 1999
EE Times
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Stock prices for both Intel Corp. and Rambus Inc. showed significant recovery
Wednesday (June 2), after IBM Corp. denied reports that it planned to ditch the high-bandwidth memory
technology. The company refuted press reports that appeared Monday suggesting that it no longer planned to
include Rambus DRAM chips in its upcoming computer systems, and was preparing to sell off its RDRAM
manufacturing assets to a Taiwanese semiconductor maker.
Rambus stock gained steadily today and closed at $73.38, up nearly 10 percent from Tuesday. Following the
holiday weekend, the shares opened yesterday well below the previous week's closing price in the $75 range,
and continued to tumble all through the session before finishing at $67.03. Intel followed a similar pattern, sliding
Tuesday from above $53 to $50.69 at the close. The chip maker gained $1.25 today to reach $51.94. Intel also
announced yesterday that it would spend $780 million to acquire Dialogic Corp., which may have been a factor
in the share movement.
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Computex Special Edition
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By Michael Kanellos
June 2, 1999
C/Net
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Although the company has been battered by plummeting processor prices, Advanced Micro Devices
said it is gearing up for a specialized, cut-rate chip for TV set-top boxes and budget PCs that it will release if the
market continues to grow.
The news confirms the consensus that intelligent set-top boxes and other inexpensive Net-savvy devices will likely play a
substantial part in the future for PC and semiconductor manufacturers.
Last week, it was reported that Intel is preparing a budget processor, code-named Timna, that combines a processor, a memory
controller, and a graphics unit. It will be aimed at PCs and TV set-top boxes and is scheduled for release in the third quarter of
2000. Intel is just one of many making this move. At the Computex show here, top-level executives at Acer said the PC maker is
already conducting TV set-top box trials in North America and will announce products later this year.
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By Michael Kanellos
June 2, 1999
C/Net
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If Intel's plans to increase business outside of the PC market weren't already evident, one need only
look to Asia to see where its future lies: Internet set-top boxes, PC/TV devices, even desk phones and MP3 players.
Chip giant Intel, in conjunction with Taiwanese manufacturers, is showing off a number of prototype products and reference
designs this week at the five-day Computex show here to prove that PC technology can be crammed into small spaces.
The dominant theme at the conference is the inevitable rise of the Internet device and how traditional manufacturers must reinvent
themselves to survive in this market.
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The Register Computex Special
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By Mike Magee
June 2, 1999
The Register
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Sources at the Computex show in Taipei today revealed that special memory called
ESDRAM will be needed for the chip Transmeta will unleash on the world later this
year.
As revealed here some months ago, Transmeta technology will be used in a high
speed communications/telecommunications device when it is released.
Our source, who did not wish to be named, said the ESDRAM was needed because
the chip itself is likely to supplement a small on chip cache for the very small chip it is
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By Mike Magee
June 2, 1999
The Register
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The PC-133 memory standard espoused by ViA and non-Intel chipset company has
received massive endorsement from Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers. And
IBM is also likely to give its formal backing Monday next.
That is likely to mean that even more pressure will be put on Intel to adopt the memory
standard, as Direct Rambus fades into the distance.
And IBM will hold a meeting in Vancouver, next Monday, to discuss how it also will
provide support for PC-133 rather than Direct Rambus technology.
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By Mike Magee
June 2, 1999
The Register
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An Intel representative on its stand at the Computex trade fair has confirmed that
quantities of Direct Rambus memory will not appear until year end.
Intel is showing a number of RIMMs from manufacturers and module manufacturers
including LG, Toshiba, Samsung, Memory Corporation and Apacer, an Acer
subsidiary.
"Yields are low," the representative said. "We don't expect shipments to be in any
quantity until September, and they will rise towards the end of the year."
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By Mike Magee
June 2, 1999
The Register
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National Semiconductor subsidiary Cyrix is showing Socket 370 Gobi motherboards
on its stand at the Computex trade fair.
And a representative said that it is continuing with its plans to introduce its Mojave
technology using the same infrastructure.
It was continuing to develop products and relationships for the up coming products, he
said. The first Mojave 370s will start appearing in quantity towards the end of this year.
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By Mike Magee
June 2, 1999
The Register
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Chip giant Intel had practically the entire of one wall of its stand lined with third party
motherboards supporting the 810 Whitney chipset.
Boards were shown by practically all the major motherboard factors and a large
number of smaller Taiwanese players too.
In addition, Intel showed some of its own motherboard products based on Whitney.
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June 2, 1999
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By Reuters
June 1, 1999
C/Net
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Intel's second-quarter earnings are likely to come in a bit lighter than expected due to a higher mix
of its lower-priced Celeron chips in the company's overall revenues, an analyst said.
BancBoston Robertson Stephens analyst Dan Niles told his sales force earlier today that earnings estimates for Intel on Wall
Street are "a little too high."
"The earnings numbers could be up to 2 cents lighter than what I have, mostly driven by pricing," Niles said. "The mix is the
problem," he said, adding that Intel is selling more of its lower-cost Celeron processors than analysts had been expecting and
that its price cuts are more aggressive.
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By Michael Kanellos
June 1, 1999
C/Net
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Although Intel is putting its weight behind Rambus, cost and other obstacles mean several key
companies are lukewarm about the memory technology.
AMD's K7 processor, which rolls out later this month, will not likely be matched with Rambus memory in computers until next
year, said Alan Au, AMD's director of sales for greater China. Instead, the K7 will likely be matched with plain 100-Mhz DRAM,
then the speedier 133-MHz DRAM, then other, faster versions of that lineage.
In any event, the calendar seems to ensure that the initial flotilla of K7 machines won't use Rambus. The K7 is expected at the
end of the month, the same time K7-based computers might also arrive. But the chipsets on the market right now, which serve as
the interface between the processor and main memory, do not yet speak the language of
Rambus.
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By Bloomberg News
June 1, 1999
C/Net
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Rambus, a designer of high-speed computer chips, fell as much as 13 percent on concern that IBM may choose a
competing technology for its personal computers.
Rambus fell 10 to 67 1/2 in late trading, after touching 67 1/4. Yesterday, Cahners Business Information's Electronic News, citing
unnamed sources, reported that IBM decided to drop support of Rambus technology in its personal computers in favor of a
competing technology called PC-133.
IBM said today that it plans to use PC-133 in its low-end PCs to be introduced in the second half of this year, though higher-end
expensive PCs and workstations released at the same time will be based on Intel computer chips and Rambus products. "It's no
secret that IBM has been a supporter of PC-133, but they have not come out against Rambus," said David Wehner, a Hambrecht
& Quist analyst who rates Rambus "market perform."
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By Linley Gwennap
May 31, 1999
Microprocessor Report
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Intel ignited a price war earlier this year with aggressive Celeron price cuts, leaving no one but Intel able to profit selling PC processors
(see MPR 5/10/99, p. 23). With this price war, Intel has scorched the earth in the entry-level segment, creating a barren no-man's-land.
This shrewd tactic blocks the advance of any would-be competitor.
Of Intel's four major market segments, mobile, server, low-cost desktop, and performance
desk top the low-end segment has been the most popular point of attack for x86 competitors. It requires the least advanced technology and is much bigger than the mobile or server
segments. Some competitors have ended up there not by choice but by aiming at the performance segment and missing.
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By Rick Merritt
June 1, 1999
EE Times
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In an effort to drive its emerging PC-server business forward, Intel Corp. said it
has reached an agreement to acquire computer-telephony specialist Dialogic Corp. (Parsippany, N.J.) for about
$780 million in an all-cash deal. The deal marks the second major acquisition in the communications arena for
Intel this year, as the giant processor company seeks new avenues for growth beyond the desktop PC.
If the deal is approved, Dialogic, which had revenue of $293 million last year, will become a wholly owned
subsidiary of Intel folded under its Enterprise Server Group. Dialogic claims it has a 64 percent share of the
market for computer-telephony components, focusing on X86-based servers that provide data and voice
services, replacing traditional private-branch-exchange systems. Dialogic also makes cards and software for fax,
speech recognition and IP telephony systems.
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The Register
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By Mike Magee
June 1, 1999
The Register
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Brian Halla, CEO of National Semiconductor, said at the Computex Trade Fair today that
information appliances and thin Windows clients will overtake sales by the PC in both the
office and the home, possibly as early as the end of next year.
In a keynote speech, Halla said that the NatSemi "system on a chip" he announced here
last year has already been produced in silicon, a month early.
Halla said: "I believe the overwhelming majority of productss bought by MIS managers in the
future will be thin clients. The benefits are that you start with a low purchase cost but
there's virtually no total cost of ownership issues in the future. You get the benefit of very
fast deployment. If computer theft is a problem, the only thing that goes out of the door is
plastic and metal. The databases sits on the server."
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By John Lettice
June 1, 1999
The Register
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Intel is planning a PC-on-a-chip processor, codenamed Timna, for rollout next year,
according to a report in EE Times. And from its specification the chip looks like it will be
coming out of Intel's embedded stable - this puts a certain amount of spin onto Intel's
recent Applied Computing Platform announcement.
Timna will be built in 0.18 micron, based on a Pentium II-class CPU with 128k L2 cache,
graphics controller and integrated Direct Rambus memory controller. EE Times gets
particularly exercised about the expense of integrating the latter, but while this might mean
it's a mistake to do this at this juncture, the general Intel plan to build its own components
into single chip solutions is obvious.
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By Tony Smith
June 1, 1999
The Register
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The Register's favourite Japanese hardware Web site, Happy Cat has posted some pics of
the heavily-heatsinked Pentium-style container for AMD's upcoming K7.
And the site has a snap of the Celeron 500.
Some of the photography could be sharper, and we suspect the K7 container to hold little
more than the daughtercard -- is that 'manufacturing sample' we can read on the top of the
case, and where's the chip itself in the second shot? -- but it gives you a feel for what to
expect.
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June 1, 1999
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By Michael Kanellos
May 28, 1999
C/Net
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Although it has derided the concept of integrating graphics and other functions onto a PC chip in the past, Intel will
attempt to come out with its own system-on-a-chip device toward the end of 2000.
Called "Timna," the chip will contain a Celeron processor core, a graphics unit, and a memory controller, said sources. The
processor is slated to come out toward the end of 2000 and will be likely aimed at low-end PCs and intelligent TV set-top boxes.
The company is shifting toward integration--which potentially can lower the silicon budget of PC manufacturers--largely because it
can. Processors are currently made on the 0.25-micron manufacturing process. When companies shift to the 0.18-micron
process later this year, the wires that cover a semiconductor wires will shrink, leaving room to place more transistors on the chip.
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By Mark Carroll and Will Wade
May 28, 1999
EE Times
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Intel Corp. will take a crack at putting a PC-on-a-chip late next year. The so-called Timna
processor, manufactured with 0.18-micron technology, includes a Pentium II-class processor, a graphics
controller, 128 kbytes of L2 cache and — the item that's raising the most eyebrows — a Direct Rambus
memory controller.
If Intel follows through with its plan, Timna could drive Rambus DRAMs into the mainstream and stake out a
new territory in the low-cost PC space. But motherboard makers here, already struggling to integrate Direct
Rambus into high-end Pentium III designs this year, are worried about the hurdles involved in bringing the new
memories into volume, low-end systems.
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The Register
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May 31, 1999
The Register
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A kindly reader has somehow obtained the full transcript of an internal Intel document
on how to deal with the European press.
We were only able to publish snatches of the document earlier this year.
The document reveals that Intel deals with different European countries very differently
indeed. Here it is in its entirety.
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By Pete Sherriff
May 28, 1999
The Register
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Chipzilla likes to keep its OEMs appraised of price changes and new product
introductions well ahead of time. Hardly ever does the chip behemoth move the
goalposts.
Well, hardly ever.
The Register has in its possession detailed roadmaps and price lists stretching out
far into the future (nine months at least) about clock speeds, form factors and prices.
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By Pete Sherriff
May 28, 1999
The Register
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While awfully clever folk argue about Merced's emulation of IA32 –- will it be software
or hardware? (It'll be full-blown hardware, guys, just trust us on this one), they're
ignoring a far more interesting question.
After Willamette, Chipzilla's next IA32 part is codenamed Foster and is scheduled to
appear alongside Merced in mid 2000 (although the way things are panning out, it'll
likely appear before Merced).
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By Mike Magee
May 28, 1999
The Register
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Intel may now be forced to revise its chipset plans, following information from a
reliable source that Direct Rambus yields are likely to be slim in Q3.
Earlier this year, Intel said that there would be a slight delay to Direct Rambus parts,
with shipments coming on stream in Q3.
But our source, close to Intel's future plans, said that realistic volumes of the memory
parts are now unlikely to arrive until Q4.
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By Mike Magee
May 31, 1999
The Register
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Chipset manufacturer ViA will use this week's Computex trade show in Taiwan to
re-inforce its support of the PC-133 memory market.
At the same time, it is also set to introduce some 1394 Firewire products, according
to the company.
ViA and every other top tier Taiwanese manufacturer will show PC-133 solutions, the
company claimed today.
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By Mike Magee
May 31, 1999
The Register
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The Japanese IDT Web site is displaying details of roadmap for x.86 chips which
show it extending well into the 21st century.
And according to Daiki at his Japanese Web site, this means 400MHz and 450MHz
parts by the end of the year.
IDT has kept a low profile since rumours started flying early this month that it was
getting out of the x.86 market. We have had no official word from IDT about its
WinChips for quite some time, so can't say if this is a flyer or not.
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By Mike Magee
May 30, 1999
The Register
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"It is a long tail, certainly, said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail; "but why do you
call it sad?" And she kept on puzzling about it while the Mouse was speaking, so that her idea of the
tail was something like this:- (from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
A further twist in the already tangled patent case over the International Meta Systems
(IMS) development of the Meta 3240 processor emerged at the end of last week.
TechSearch, a firm of lawyers specialising in buying up patents, originally filed a
patent infringement suit against Intel in July of last year. A few weeks later, Intel set up
a shell firm called Maelen in an attempt to get its hands on the technology.
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By Mike Magee
May 28, 1999
The Register
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In what appears to be a colossal oversight, AMD has only just registered the words
Advanced Micro Devices as a trademark.
The application for the trademark was taken out on the 12th of March last.
Just think what hay others might have made out of the oversight.
Other trademarks recently registered include GigaNIC. So we'd better watch out for
that product too.
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