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June 25, 1999
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By Mark Hachman
June 24, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
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Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is predicting a loss of about $200 million
for its second fiscal quarter, which ends on June 27--a disappointment even the launch of its K7
processor could not abate.
Despite significantly improved microprocessor yields and the introduction of its long-awaited K7
chip, which is officially known as the Athlon, AMD continues to run in the red. "Gray market
activity plus three official price moves by Intel dashed our hopes of an orderly pricing
environment," said W. J. Sanders III, chairman and chief executive officer of the Sunnyvale
company.
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Today's Related Stories |
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By Robert Lemos
June 24, 1999
ZD Net News
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In one realm, at least, struggling PC chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has proven it can outdo
rival Intel Corp. When Intel released its low-end processor, the Celeron, the industry poked fun. Now
that AMD has renamed its K7, the struggling company better have a thick skin.
The name of the next-generation chip: The Athlon.
Sounding more like an Olympic event than a techno workhorse, the Athlon is AMD's (AMD) potential savior.
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Today's Related Stories |
AMD Red Ink Deepens
Can the K7 save embattled chip maker from Intel "gorilla" warfare?
By Therese Poletti
June 24, 1999
PC World
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Calling Intel an 800-pound gorilla, Advanced Micro Devices said on Wednesday it would post a
larger-than-expected loss for the second quarter, partly due to its bloody price war with Intel.
AMD said it would post an operating loss in the range of $200 million for the quarter ending June 27. Based
on about 146 million shares outstanding, the loss would come to about $1.37 a share.
Wall Street analysts had been expecting a loss of about 40 cents a
share, according to First Call, which tracks estimates. The $200
million loss will also include a restructuring charge similar to the
first quarter charge of $15 million, AMD said.
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Today's Related Stories |
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By Sandy Chen
June 24, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
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Taiwan's Acer Laboratories Inc.(ALi) said last week that it
has signed a licensing agreement with Intel Corp. granting ALi a patent license to sell certain chipset products that
are compatible with Intel's P6 microprocessor bus architecture.
Under the agreement, Taipei-based ALi will grant Intel access to its patents and will pay royalties to Intel for
products that use the P6 bus architecture.Specific details of those payments were not disclosed.
"With this agreement, ALi is confident that we can now offer licensed choices for the PC industry, which ultimately
will benefit our end customers," said Chin Wu, president of the low-cost core-logic chipset design house.
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By David Myron
June 24, 1999
VARBusiness
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At PC Expo in New York this week, Intel Corp. executives
were available to give a quick glimpse of the company's mobile processor plans for the second half of this year.
This fall, Intel will launch its 500-MHz Pentium III mobile processor, which will likely support an emerging wireless
standard called Bluetooth technology.
The chip will be the first mobile processor from Intel with a 100-MHz front side bus (FSB). Internet streaming
extensions will be included, as well, to provide better video streaming, enhanced 3D rendering and speech recognition capabilities to laptops. To assuage the burden of change,
the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker will keep the 440BX chipset for its Pentium III mobile processors. The
company, however, will herald a new chip architecture for high-end laptops at the turn of the millennium. Frank
Spindler, vice president and director of marketing at Intel, says the details of the new architecture are top secret.
Nonetheless, the mobile processor architecture will continue to shrink the performance gap between
notebooks and desktops.
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By Deborah Gage
June 24, 1999
Sm@rt Reseller
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No question it's a chip giant. And a motherboard king as well, for that matter. But an Internet-hosting
company that runs enterprise apps for your customers?
After years of searching for a major, new growth area, Intel Corp. believes it finally has found one. Recently,
the components behemoth surprised Wall Street by announcing it was entering the data-services business
in a big way -- even though it earns more than 95 percent of its revenue from processors, chip sets and
related products.
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By James V. Grimaldi
June 24, 1999
Seattle Times Washington
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As recently as a year and a half ago, Microsoft's relationship with Intel was so rocky that Intel chief
Andy Grove told Bill Gates: "There is something very wrong with the way Microsoft works with Intel."
In a deliberate, sometimes sarcastic and deeply resentful e-mail, the Microsoft chairman recounts Grove's comment, made during a
late October 1997 meeting that Gates considered "a big attack by him on how we are so hard to work with."
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By Reuters
June 23, 1999
TechWeb
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Microsoft chairman Bill Gates wrote a long and angry e-mail in 1997 to
then Intel chairman Andrew Grove, but said later the two companies must get along, a newly
disclosed document at the Microsoft antitrust trial showed Wednesday.
"When Intel finds someone who has some humility about developing operating systems and the
complexities involved then maybe we can try to work together," Gates said to Grove in the Nov. 2, 1997,
e-mail.
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By Therese Poletti
June 24, 1999
SiliconValley.com
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Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel Corp. and other PC-related stocks fell Thursday, as investors worried that the combative PC
chip price wars are also indicative of slower-than-expected PC sales.
Late Wednesday, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD said that it would report a bigger-than-expected second quarter loss, as it
shipped fewer K6 processor chips than planned, hurt by increasingly aggressive price cuts by rival California chip maker Intel.
As expected, many analysts on Wall Street cut their earnings estimates on AMD, but also held out hope the company's next
generation processor, the Athlon, will compete with Intel in the higher-priced corporate PC market.
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The Register Files
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By Mike Magee
June 24, 1999
The Register
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Pictured below is Mike Magee, photographed by his wife and son, proudly wearing
the Intel Secrets merchandise.
Robert Collins, who runs the site, awarded Magee the prize after he pointed out that
Intel had tried to register the loop, outside, as a trademark.
Collins awarded the prize because that story amused him. Intel has tried to trademark
the squiggly thing...
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By Mike Magee
June 24, 1999
The Register
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Chip maker AMD said late yesterday its Q2 results will be worse than it expected.
The company warned it will lose $200 million in Q2. That follows a loss last Q of $128
million, which CEO Jerry Sanders described at the time as a very bad result.
The company is now predicting it will only sell over three and a half million chips in Q2.
It managed to sell five million in Q1. The news sent its share price tumbling to just over
$18 on Wall Street.
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By Mike Magee
June 24, 1999
The Register
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As the implications of AMD's predicted share loss reverberated around the world,
early signs on Wall Street were that the chip company's shares would fall further today.
The price fell to 16 13/16th, down $1 1/4 from yesterday's closing price.
And the news also appeared to affect Intel's price. Its shares, an hour after the New
York Stock Exchange opened, had fallen by 13/16ths to $55 3/14th.
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By Mike Magee
June 24, 1999
The Register
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The cynical amongst us might suspect that AMD introduced its Athlon K7 processor
slightly early to somewhat mollify the thrashing it would get on Nasdaq after CEO Jerry
Sanders III delivered his $200 million loss warning for Q2 yesterday evening.
However, an AMD European executive claimed that was not true today, but he was
prepared to talk in a little more detail about the pricing pressures on the company.
Robert Stead, European marketing director at AMD, said that while the market is very
competitive, that means his company was being taken "much more seriously".
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By Mike Magee
June 24, 1999
The Register
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The CEO of Intel said yesterday that his company was on track with its plans to move
to the .18 micron process in its fabrication plants.
Craig Barrett, Intel's CEO, confirmed that an Israeli fab opened earlier this week will
use the .18 micron process and will start production in Q3.
"It will ramp to fill up the end of year 2000," Barrett said.
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Today's
Related Stories
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By Michael Kanellos
June 24, 1999
C/Net
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AMD shares slid this morning after the company announced yesterday that it is losing money much faster than
analysts thought.
Shares were trading down 6.5 percent, falling from yesterday's close of 18.19 to 17 in midmorning trading.
AMD will likely report an operating loss of close to $200 million for the second quarter, chairman Jerry Sanders told analysts in a
conference call yesterday, a far larger figure than previous net quarterly losses, on revenues that will not exceed $600 million.
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By Marcia Savage
June 23, 1999
Computer Reseller News
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Advanced Micro Devices Inc. released good and bad news Wednesday, formally unveiling its
next-generation chip but announcing that it will report an operating loss of about $200
million for the second quarter.
Sunnyvale-based AMD said it is shipping its Athlon processor, formerly code-named
K7, to computer makers at clock speeds of 600MHz, 550MHz and 500MHz. Intel Corp.'s
fastest Pentium III operates at 550MHz.
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By Reuters
June 24, 1999
PC Week Online
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Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel Corp.'s main rival in microprocessors, said on Wednesday it would post a much larger
than expected loss for the second quarter, citing a sharp decline in prices and lower shipments for its K6 processors.
The Sunnyvale, Calif., company said it would post an operating loss in the range of $200 million for the quarter ending June
27. Based on about 146 million shares outstanding, the loss would come to about $1.37 a share. Wall Street analysts had
been expecting a loss of about 40 cents a share, according to First Call, which tracks estimates.
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June 23, 1999
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By Michael Kanellos and Stephen Shankland
June 22, 1999
C/Net
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Although widespread acceptance continues to elude the Alpha processor, companies backing the
platform broke through two major speed landmarks today and rolled out an architectural change that should reduce
the cost for adopting Alpha.
Alpha Processor Incorporated (API) and Samsung, two of the chief proponents of Alpha, demonstrated a computer system
running an Alpha processor clocked at 1 GHz (1,000 megahertz) at PC Expo here today that did not require
special cryogenic equipment to keep it from overheating. Intel and AMD have both demonstrated 1-GHz chips
before but on supercooled computers.
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Piggy-back
Slot 1 adapter for socket 370 Celeron
By Christof Windeck
Volume 10, 1999
c't Magazine
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If Intel could have their say, Celeron's future would be the socket 370. The cheap CPU is not meant for slot 1. For this
you should buy the expensive Pentium III. But a small PCB might upset this two-class CPU world, carefully designed by
Intel; using a slot-adapter allows the user to remain flexible and save some money at the same time.
Declining market shares in the Low-End-PC segment forced Intel at the beginning of the year to let go of the until then aggressively
defended dogma "The socket is dead, long live the slot!". The original goal of this maxim was to convert the market to the Pentium II
and its slot 1 as quickly as possible, just to make things a little bit harder for the competitors -- first of all AMD with their 100MHz
bus frequency CPUs. Today we know, it did not add up, AMD won and is still winning market shares in the Low-Cost-PC segment
with socket-7-CPUs.
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June 22, 1999
Windows Magazine
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Just when Advanced Micro Devices appears poised to mount a serious attack against mighty
Intel, the company always seems to trip over its own feet. Whether it’s trying to get chip speeds to
match or surpass those of its giant rival, or even making sure it can get its product out the door,
AMD is always struggling for its very survival. But with the impending launch of its new Athlon chip
(formerly known as the K7), AMD’s fortunes may be about to change. At least that’s what some
analysts contend, provided that the company doesn’t make any mistakes.
"If you look at the whole situation, AMD is in a better position than they've ever been,” asserted
Keith Diefendorff, editor-in-chief of The Microprocessor Report. “But if they stub their toe
it could get pretty ugly for them."
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By Michael Kanellos
June 22, 1999
C/Net
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The venture fund created to promote software for Intel's upcoming 64-bit processors has placed its first five
investments while the fund has expanded to include two new investors.
The companies receiving funding today are Extricity Software, Monterey Design Systems,
SpeechWorks International, TimesTen performance Software and WebLine Communications. New
investors in the fund include Boeing and Enron.
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The Register Files
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By Mike Magee
June 22, 1999
The Register
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The CEO of Intel has admitted it has a contingency plan if Direct Rambus memory
fails to deliver on time.
Craig Barrett, speaking in London at a Dow Jones conference, said that his company
would be "foolish" if it didn't have a contingency plan.
Said Barrett: "We're committed to support Rambus DRAM but ultimately these
solutions have to be price and performance based."
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By Mike Magee
June 22, 1999
The Register
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The man who runs Intel on a day-to-day basis has given the world the SP on chip
delays.
Craig Barrett, CEO of one of the biggest multinational corporations in the world, Intel,
said today that when he heard Merced was delayed "nine months ago" he got very
irritated.
But, said Barrett, Merced was on target to deliver in 12 to 18 months time.
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June 22, 1999
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By Marcia Savage
June 18, 1999
Computer Reseller News
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Intel Corp. acknowledged that it shipped some defective 810 chipsets to its customers but said it
now has corrected the problem.
Intel, based here, also confirmed that the launch of its Coppermine chip, an enhanced version of the Pentium III produced on the
advanced 0.18-micron manufacturing process, will be pushed back from late September
to November.
A very limited number of 810 chipset shipments were involved in what Intel calls the
"production test escape issue."
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By Mark Hachman
June 18, 1999
Electronic Buyers' News
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An international organization has apparently convinced Korean executives to increase the import tariff on some of
Intel Corp.'s microprocessors.
A spokesman for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel confirmed online reports that the Worldwide Customs Organization
has imposed an additional 4% to 5% tariff on Intel's Pentium II and Pentium III microprocessor modules,
reclassifying them as components rather than chips.
The tariff does not involve Intel's socketed processors. The spokesman said he thought the tariff applied only to North
Korea, but he wasn't sure. The tariff would affect PC OEMs that export components to Korea for assembly.
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By Dan Briody and Ephraim Schwartz
June 21, 1999
Infoworld
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ON THE EVE OF PC Expo, Intel is pushing notebook makers to expand their mobile offerings
during the next year, hoping to give customers more choices than ever for maximizing mobile
productivity while minimizing costs.
In a market that formerly contained as few as two types of notebooks, Intel envisions as many as
seven by 2000, including a critical new category labeled "mininotebooks," that will be showcased
by vendors at this week's PC Expo in New York.
Intel will also be specializing processors for some of these emerging markets, according to
internal Intel documents.
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By David Lammers
June 18, 1999
EE Times
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Maybe it's because the design team's leader and many of its members hail from Digital
Equipment's Alpha team, where technical derring-do prevailed. Maybe it's the culture at Advanced Micro
Devices Inc. itself, where nearly irrational perseverance in the face of Intel Corp.'s far larger resources is a way
of life. Or maybe it's the simple fact that people like an underdog — and a little price competition.
Whatever the reason, many are openly hoping that AMD's K7 processor, due to be formally unveiled later this
month, will be a blockbuster.
"The K7 will be a success; it will become AMD's bread and butter," predicted Donny Chien, a manager at
motherboard giant First International Computer Inc. (Taipei, Taiwan).
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By Michael Kanellos
June 18, 1999
C/Net
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Athlon. Is it the secret ingredient in medicated shoe inserts? The name of Conan the Barbarian's personal trainer? No,
it is the name that AMD will likely give to the upcoming K7 processor.
The widely anticipated processor from Advanced Micro Devices will not come to market as the K7, according to sources close to
the company, but as "Athlon," echoing Intel's strategy of giving processors names that sound like galactic warriors or chemical
additives. This could change, but for now it appears that AMD is heading for a branding scheme.
Whatever name AMD chooses, the K7 is shaping up to be a breakout product for AMD that could
give the company the upper hand in the processor performance race and help it return to profitability.
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By Michael Slater
June 21, 1999
Microprocessor Report
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During 1998, AMD and Cyrix showed that the power of the Intel brand could be overcome in the consumer market. Given a choice
between pricey Intel-based systems and less expensive alternatives, more than half of retail-PC buyers chose non-Intel models.
Furthermore, as nine of the top ten PC makers began using AMD processors, the association of these chips with no-name PCs
disappeared.
Impressive as this success was, however, it was not enough for AMD to achieve profitability. AMD has set its sights high, with a goal
of 30% market share. The company is investing in fab capacity at a rate that requires it to achieve something close to that share if it
is to have a reasonable business. Furthermore, to reach acceptable average selling prices, AMD needs to be a player in the
performance-oriented segments; owning the low end isn't enough.
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By John G. Spooner,
June 18, 1999
PC Week Online
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Intel Corp., aiming to wring greater performance from Pentium III chips based on its 0.18 micron manufacturing
technology, has rejiggered its fall PIII launch schedule.
The Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker this week told PC makers it will push back the introduction of a Pentium III
for desktop PCs, based on the 0.18 micron process, until November while it tweaks the design to gain greater
performance.
The chip was expected to debut at 600MHz in September. The move is not expected to delay desktop
product introductions. Intel (INTC) will make amends by introducing a 600MHz Pentium III based on its .25
micron manufacturing process later this summer, which is earlier than expected. The current 450MHz, 500MHz
and 550MHz Pentium IIIs and Celeron chips all use this manufacturing process.
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By Anthony Cataldo
June 18, 1999
EE Times
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CMOS process technology titans Intel Corp. and IBM Microelectronics clashed at the
Symposium on VLSI Technology this week over the benefits of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology for
microprocessors, with IBM making claims of performance increases over 30 percent and a readiness to move
into volume production, while Intel threw cold water over the long-term benefits and questioned its
manufacturability.
During a roundtable discussion here, it became clear that there are still deep divisions over SOI, a technology
that has been a topic of discussion in the industry for more than 20 years. SOI returned to the forefront last year
after IBM said it had resolved most of the issues related to production and reliability, and announced it would
soon begin producing SOI-based PowerPC devices. Production of those devices is expected in a matter of
months.
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By Reuters
June 21, 1999
C/Net
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U.S. telecommunications firm Hughes Network Systems plans to use Intel microprocessors in a new generation of TV
set-top receivers, the companies announced today.
Hughes Network Systems, a unit of General Motors's Hughes Electronics, next year will use Pentium MMX microprocessors and
other Intel technology in set-top boxes providing Internet access along with Hughes's satellite-based DirecTV service.
Kevin Hause, an analyst at International Data Corporation, estimates the market for TV boxes with Internet access will grow to
eight million units by 2001 from three million in 1999, the newspaper said.
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June 21, 1999
SiliconValley.com
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Intel Corp. inaugurated its newest microprocessor plant
Monday in the southern town of Kiryat Gat.
Intel President Craig Barrett said he expects the factory to produce $1 billion worth of
components a year beginning in 2000.
The plant will make the world's thinnest microchips for processors and Internet
applications, company officials said.
Intel will employ 1,500 full-time workers at the plant. That could double in time, the officials said.
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By Warren S. Hersch
June 18, 1999
Computer Reseller Computer
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Shares of Intel Corp. dipped more than 5 percent in mixed trading Friday after the company
warned of a delay in shipping its new Pentium III processor.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13.9 points to 10,855.6, while the technology-heavy
Nasdaq gained 19.3 points to 2,563.4. The S&P 500, too, edged up 3.1 points to 1,343.
Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker Intel Corp. declined $3.06 to $54.94.
An Intel spokesperson said on Friday the company would not meet the intended
release date of Sept. or Oct., 1999, for its 0.18-micro Pentium III processor. The
spokesperson added the delay may result in lower average selling prices for
processors.
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The Register Files
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By Mike Magee
June 21, 1999
The Register
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Problems which Intel admitted with its Coppermine core last week point to the
platform giving little performance boost.
But sources close at Intel suggest that Willamette, as reported here earlier, is the chip
giant's secret weapon.
The sources told us earlier today that there cannot be a problem with the .18 micron
process itself, so it must be the Coppermine design.
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By Mike Magee
June 21, 1999
The Register
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It really would be a good thing for Intel and its customers if the company would come
clean ever so soon now and quash speculation on its Merced processor.
Chat on message boards, including Silicon Investor is raising temperatures round the
world and some Intel cooling technology could well be in, rather than out of order.
According to the latest Scuttleboat on this board and from other sources, Intel is still
working every hour God sends to get the thing to tape out, so it can deliver samples to
its sundry waiting world.
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By Mike Magee
June 21, 1999
The Register
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Our feverish request to come up with the definitive new name for the K7 chip seems to
have found a response.
An OEM, who under no circumstances whatever wishes to be named, tells us that
Athlon will be the name of the K7 processor at its launch next week.
AMD wouldn't even give us the date of the launch so that we could write a piece ready
for the announcement.
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By Mike Magee
June 21, 1999
The Register
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A French company is up in arms over the suggestion that AMD will call its K7
Athlon.
This is hardly surprising, and quite frankly, we're bored of the whole subject.
We promise never to write about the K7 for another two weeks and instead to
concentrate on its Big Brother Intel.
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By Mike Magee
June 20, 1999
The Register
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After an exhaustive struggle to win the prize of guessing the new name of the K7 we
have to confess it's all geek to us.
Athlon is a Greek word, meaning struggle, prize and the game, but
Alereon, as far as
we can figure it, isn't Greek. It might be Geek.
However, the latter name, as revealed here, is already registered by AMD but the site
is not yet up.
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By Mike Magee
June 21, 1999
The Register
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Our friends over in the US, in particularl at JC, have noticed that Sys is advertising a
$4,000 K7 system running at 800MHz and apparently using some kind of cooling
technique.
That has led other friends, in particular Jonathan Hou at Fullon3D, to speculate about
the price of the K7 by breaking down the spex of this machine.
Doing so, the price breaks down to around $750 for a 600MHz part, according to
Jonathan.
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By Mike Magee
June 18, 1999
The Register
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Samsung subsidiary Alpha Processors Inc (API) will next week demonstrate a one
gigahertz system which will arrive in volume this time next year.
The system will not be cooled by Kryotech and runs at room temperature, we can
confirm. Our source saw the system demoed at Kiheung, in Korea, this week, and the
firm will transport the system over the weekend.
API is positioning the system against a 400MHz Xeon. In graphics rendering, the
application was four times faster -- 34 seconds versus two minutes 10 seconds, our
source can confirm.
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By Mike Magee
June 19, 1999
The Register
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Alpha Processors Inc (API), mostly owned by Samsung but with Compaq holding a
minority share, has now confirmed details of its 750MHz and 1GHz Alpha processors.
It will formally introduce the 750MHz flavour at PC Expo this coming Tuesday, and
Miles Chesney, enterprise business development manager at API, confirmed that by
this time next year the 1GHz processor will appear in volume.
Chesney also confirmed that AMD and API are collaborating on processor and
chipset development.
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By Mike Magee
June 20, 1999
The Register
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Christine Dotts, at Intel, has been up to her tricks again and registered four new
domain names on Friday when the chip giant thought the world wasn't looking.
Dotts, based at Intel's Chandler site, registered GATHEROUND.ORG,
SHARECAFE.ORG, IMAGEROOM.ORG and IMAGESPRING.NET on the 18th of June.
None of the sites are yet live but they will be.
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By Mike Magee
June 20, 1999
The Register
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It is inconceivable that the roadmaps from Alpha Processor Inc (API) we published
yesterday could have reached the light of day without Compaq's imprimatur.
After all, not only does Compaq have a minority share in API, with Samsung the main
shareholder, but the Houston company is also irretrievably married to the Alpha
platform itself.
A close examination of API's competitive microprocessor roadmap reveals a lot not
only about the Alpha roadmap but about Intel's plans too.
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By Mike Magee
June 18, 1999
The Register
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This writer, on his Vespa zooming to the Twisted Wheel in Manchester in the 1960s,
well remembers the time when fab meant something really ace.
But life is far from being fab at Intel, it appears. After a relentless and ruthless round of
price cutting throughout the first six months of this year, it now appears that the strain
is beginning to affect the gravy train.
Add to that the lukewarm reception given to the (late) Merced chip, problems with the
Coppermine process, the lateness of the Camino 820 chipset and the whole cafuffle
over Direct Rambus, Intel is not having the greatest of years.
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