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| Top Stories for August 12, 1999 (details below) | |
| EE Times | AMD plans broad Athlon processor line |
| C/Net | Intel stock hits record price, has doubled in past year |
| The Register Files | |
| The Register | AMD needs cash for the Dresden money pit |
| The Register | Now Intel-IDT enter cross-licensing frenzy |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of August 8, 1999 |
Older News |
| August 12, 1999 | ||
AMD plans broad Athlon processor lineBy Will Wade August 11, 1999 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. plans to roll out an entire product line based on its new processor, the Athlon by the end of next year, by which time the Athlon family could be positioned to replace the company's current workhorse, the K6.
AMD this week unveiled the initial versions of the Athlon chip, with clock speeds ranging from 500 MHz to 650 MHz, and aimed at the high-performance consumer PC segment. The company is introducing the 650-MHz version a few months ahead of its original schedule, and product marketing manager Gary Bixler said that indicates the success AMD has had in manufacturing the chips. The Athlon is the industry's only seventh-generation microprocessor, he noted, and the 650-MHz part is currently the fastest MPU on the market. |
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Intel stock hits record price, has doubled in past yearBy Reuters August 11, 1999 |
Intel stock climbed to a record today amid optimism that personal computer sales will be strong during the remainder of this year.
Stock in the world's largest maker of computer chips closed at 76, up 4.25, in trading of more than 40 million shares, making it the most active listing on the Nasdaq. The stock has climbed from a 52-week low of 34.88. The stock also got a boost from a PaineWebber research note in which analyst John Lazlo raised his price target to 95 from 80, citing the resumption of "the normal seasonal PC recovery" and evidence that major PC makers are snapping up Intel's latest chip, the Pentium III. |
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| The Register Files | ||
AMD needs cash for the Dresden money pitBy Mike Magee August 11, 1999 |
The chief financial officer of AMD caused a few hearts to beat faster in corporate HQ when he said his company was looking for a partner to help fund its fab.
But now we have had word from a contractor who worked at Dresden that there are acres of space in the 90,000 square foot clean room. Fab 30, which we visited at the beginning of last week, uses a SMIF clean room of Class 100T (100@0.3µ). Its eight inch wafer size has a technology limit of below .13µ and can produce 5,000 wafers a week at full build out. |
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Now Intel-IDT enter cross-licensing frenzyBy Mike Magee August 11, 1999 |
A low-key announcement in what would have emanated from a smoke-filled room if it happened thirty years back has resulted in Intel signing a cross licensing deal with
IDT, which still owns the x.86 Centaur intellectual property (IP).
The Register has learned that IDT will make a statement about this deal tomorrow. Last week, Taiwanese chipset firm Via said it would buy IDT's flagging Centaur WinChip business, and also announced it would have access to the x.86 IP. |
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| August 11, 1999 | ||
Via touts chipset support for AMD's Athlon processorBy Andrew MacLellan August 10, 1999 |
Via Technologies Inc. has launched a chipset with support for Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s new Athlon microprocessor, touting a variety of features as outperforming Pentium-based platforms.
Via's KX133 chipset features support for the Athlon's 200-MHz front-side bus, as well as interfaces to PC133 SDRAM, an AGP 4X graphics pipeline, and an ATA-66 hard drive. Riding AMD's industry-leading 650-MHz processor clock and the company's claim that the Athlon bests competing devices from Intel Corp., Via said "the combination of the seventh-generation advanced designs of the Apollo KX133 and Athlon should set a new standard for x86-level desktop performance." |
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Intel inks patent cross license with former CPU rivalBy Andrew MacLellan August 10, 1999 |
Less than a week after selling its microprocessor business, IDT Inc. has signed a cross-license agreement with Intel Corp. that grants each company limited access to the other's patented technology.
The intellectual property exchange contains certain, unspecified exceptions, and terms of the deal remain confidential, according to the companies, both of which are based in Santa Clara, Calif. Intel will, however, pay IDT $20.5 million for the licenses granted under the agreement, although neither party would say exactly what technology Intel is buying the rights to. The agreement's timing is interesting in that it comes just days after IDT exited the stand-alone processor market. With last week's sale of its Centaur Technologies division and WinChip CPU line to Via Technologies Inc., IDT in effect ceased being a competitor to Intel in that space. |
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FTC closes book on Intel antitrust caseBy James Niccolai August 10, 1999 |
With a 60-day period for public comment over, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Friday quietly finalized its antitrust settlement with Intel.
The FTC's commissioners voted 3-1 in favor of accepting a consent decree agreed to between Intel and the FTC in March, shortly before the case was due to come to trial. The FTC last year said Intel harmed competition when it refused to do business with three companies -- Digital Equipment, Compaq, and Intergraph -- unless they agreed to license certain technology patents to Intel on favorable terms. |
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| The Register Files | ||
Geyserville slips a whole quarter in a day...By Mike Magee August 10, 1999 |
A faithful Intel watcher has pointed out to us that the company has just placed a URL on its site which seems to indicate Geyserville technology has slipped by a whole quarter of a year, in one day.
Yesterday, we reported that Geyserville was likely to arrive in Q1 of the year 2000, quoting a source so close to Intel that he or she might very well work for the chip giant. Our feeling about the whole affair is that Intel is re-jigging its entire roadmap in order to bowl a googly (UK cricket term) and knock off AMD's Athlon bails. |
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Via claims National to blame for Cyrix layoffsBy Mike Magee August 10, 1999 |
A source close to Via said today that the company could not be blamed for layoffs at Cyrix in Richardson and Arlington last week.
According to the source, the redundancies were imposed by NatSemi after weeks of negotiations between the companies. But the fact remains that Cyrix technology, in the shape of the M3 processor, is now as dead as a dead duck could be. |
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Intel: 133MHz FSB plot to thicken sooner than thoughtBy Mike Magee August 10, 1999 |
Sources which in the course of their business have to be very close to Intel are reporting that 600MHz Pentium IIIs and 533MHz Pentium IIIs will arrive on August 23rd at prices of around $675 and $370 respectively.
According to other sources close to these plans, Intel will release its Vancouver motherboard early September using the 820 chipset to replace the SE440BX-2 Seattle mobo. Intel will put jumpers on this mobo to allow machines to be configured to switch between RDRAM modules and PC-133 modules, the source said. |
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AMD goes public on AthlonBy Mike Magee August 10, 1999 |
Chip company Advanced Micro Devices has now released its official statement on the introduction of the Athlon K7.
As revealed earlier, it comes in 650MHz as well as 600MHz, 550MHz and 500MHz flavours, and has support from both Compaq and Big Blue. Jerry Sanders III, CEO of AMD, is going to release some sound bites later on today. |
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FTC lets Intel off the hookBy Mike Magee August 10, 1999 |
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) quietly let Intel depart its records last Friday after a 60-day public consultation period expired. But the decision means that Intel's affairs will still come under scrutiny, if necessary.
The commissioners voted to approve the consent order 3:1, with Orson Swindle the sole dissenter in the case of Docket 9228. However, the consent decree is now binding on Intel, meaning Chipzilla has to be nice and not prevent its customers from having access to technology that might damage their businesses. |
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IO battle of giants to make tiny firm richBy Mike Magee August 10, 1999 |
You may remember the spat during this year over the direction Intel and Sun wanted to take next generation IO technology, called by them NGIO.
On the other side of the argument are Compaq, HP and IBM, with their future IO technology called -- Future IO. Now it seems the lucky winner of the battle of these two behemoths will be little Wind River Systems. |
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| August 10, 1999 | ||
AMD releases high-end microprocessor in new challenge to IntelAugust 9, 1999 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. renewed its challenge to archrival Intel Corp. by releasing a new computer microprocessor today that it says can outperform Intel's high-end chip for computers.
AMD claims its new Athlon chip will run faster than Intel's fastest Pentium III, clocking a speed of 650 megahertz compared with 600 megahertz for Intel. Athlon also can outperform Intel chips operating at the same speed, AMD says. The Athlon is AMD's latest attempt to use superior technology against its larger rival. But AMD has stumbled previously because of production problems. And Intel typically responds to new threats with big price cuts. |
See Today's Related Stories |
AMD Says "Show me the Money"By Toni Duboise August 9, 1999 |
For the first time in PC history, consumers are choosing notebooks powered by something other than "Intel Inside" -- namely AMD. The most recent results from StoreBoard in the U.S. reveals the K6-2 processor has catapulted AMD to the top spot in retail notebooks in June.
As previously reported, AMD is the first processor manufacturer to challenge Intel's dominance in this niche. Both AMD and Cyrix made their debut in the retail notebook market in January of 1998, but Intel was still able to prevail by retaining 68% to 93% market share. That all changed in March of this year when AMD was able to muster 39% share opposite Intel's 55% share. AMD continued to gain ground until finally capping the market in June with 58.2% market share. Intel's share was reduced to 40%, an all time low (see graph 1). |
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AMD's Athlon-650 Pulls Ahead
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It's blastoff on Monday for Advanced Micro Devices, which unveils four speedy versions of its new Athlon chip, led by a 650-MHz version that shoots ahead of Intel's best.
PC WorldBench tests found an Athlon-650 reference system blew away the average Pentium III-600 by 14 percent or more, and squeaked by the average Athlon-600 by 3 to 5 percent. AMD is unveiling the Athlon (formerly the K7) in four versions: 650 MHz, 600 MHz, 550 MHz, and 500 MHz. |
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AMD's Do-or-Die ChipAugust 9, 1999 |
Advanced Micro Devices, Intel's scrappy competitor in the PC processor business, finally has a chip it can crow about -- the Athlon -- a product that will eventually take AMD into the more profitable, higher end of the market.
On Monday, AMD is to announce that two top PC makers will ship the chip in PCs later this month. AMD will also tout some key performance data showing the Athlon is faster than the rival Pentium III from Intel. |
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AMD claims industry's fastest PC chipBy James Niccolai August 9, 1999 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. saved a surprise for the launch of its Athlon processor today -- a 650-MHz version that AMD claims is the fastest x86-type processor on the market.
Athlon, formerly known as the K7, is being hawked by AMD as a "seventh-generation" processor, thanks to a handful of architectural improvements aimed at boosting performance. Athlon initially will be sold in high-performance desktops, but over time the chip maker hopes the new processor will bring in revenues from the more profitable workstation and server markets. |
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| The Register Files | ||
Cyrix M3 Athlon Killer strangled at birth by ViaBy Mike Magee August 9, 1999 |
Sources close to Cyrix, Via and IDT Centaur have now given us yet more facts and figures about Via's decision to shut down M3 development and suggested that the Taiwanese company has shot itself in both feet by choosing the WinChip instead.
According to the sources, who declined, for obvious reasons, to be named, the architects had succeeded in producing M3 designs with similar performance to AMD's Athlon K7 but at 40 per cent of the die size. And Via's decision to lay off engineers has now dissolved a superior team of architects which had succeeded in severely good optimisation, the sources added. |
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Cyrix layoffs confirmed at Richardson, ArlingtonBy Mike Magee August 8, 1999 |
Reports reached The Register early today that National/Cyrix fired over 160 employees from Richardson and Arlington late Friday.
We will confirm whether or not such layoffs occurred tomorrow, although Mark Hachman at TechWeb reported Friday confirmation of the cuts from NatSemi-Via. There are also some comments about the layoffs here, which suggest the reason for the cheap price Via paid is because it didn't want the technology, just the intellectual property. |
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Geyserville delayed until post-Mother Shipton periodBy Mike Magee August 9, 1999 |
Mother Shipton of Knaresborough, Yorkshire, as well as Nostradamus, predicted the world would end in 1999.
And if she was correct, that means the world and its dog may never see Intel's famous Geyserville technology, as well as its faster Coppermine technology. Sources close to Intel confirmed today that Cu-mines of 0.18 micron thinness and Geyserville technology will not now arrive until Q1 of the year 2000. |
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AMD gets all fundamental about Athlon OutsideBy Mike Magee August 9, 1999 |
A report on a stocks and shares investment site has revealed how serious AMD is about following Intel down a rigorous route to the corporate marketplace.
Paul Engel, who won our reader of the month award earlier this year, has published details of AMD's conditions for using the Athlon logo on Silicon Investor. According to Engel, the guidelines exclude the Asia Pacific markets. He quotes the document as saying: "The following guidelines address the correct treatment of AMD's "AMD Athlon" logo and associated logos in advertising, technical, collateral, and other printed or visual materials for the AMD Athlon processor in the U.S. and all International markets, excluding Asia-Pacific countries. Asia-Pacific countries include: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. If you are developing material that will be used in Asia-Pacific countries, please refer to the AMD Athlon Logo Guidelines and Trademark Usage Guidelines for Asia-Pacific countries. " |
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AMD Athlon K7 NDA expires...By Mike Magee August 9, 1999 |
A stack of US AMD non-disclosure agreements have expired, allowing various hardware sites to spill the beans on the K7-Athlon.
Ace's Hardware Page, Fullon3D, Tom's Hardware, Sharky Extreme, AMD Zone and CPU Review have all taken the opportunity to get their contributions in early, that is on the stroke of midnight on the 8th of August. Anandtech points to these sites, as do we, below. Meanwhile, over here, JC invites his readers to even mark the reviews for writing style... Tom's Pages have some nice but rather graphics intensive pictures of chips and block diagrams of the K7. |
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| Today's Related Stories | ||
AMD's Athlon out of the gate--and at a lower priceBy Mark Hachman August 9, 1999 |
The design's complete, the chip's fabricated. Core logic support is in place. With an extra speed grade up its sleeve, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. will bet its future on the Athlon processor, which will launch today.
As is traditionally the case, AMD's future appears bright. Executives last week produced a multitude of benchmarks, backed up by analysts, to support the company's claims that it outperforms Intel Corp.'s Pentium III by up to 30% at equivalent clock speeds. That, combined with a new market strategy, throws open the door for the beleaguered company to deliver top-to-bottom solutions in the PC microprocessor space. AMD executives also withheld two surprises for the official launch: the release of a 650-MHz part today that will claim the title of the fastest x86 processor in existence; and yet another branding strategy. |
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AMD chip's a real speed
demon
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Hold onto your seat--Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the chip maker best known for its sub-$1,000 systems, has one-upped Intel
Corp. in the lucrative high-end processor market. PC Week Labs' benchmark tests of a reference system
found AMD's 650MHz Athlon chip to be up to 13 percent faster than Intel's 600MHz Pentium III.
Great performance, however, will not be enough to convince "steady as she goes" corporate buyers that AMD is a real alternative. A few of the big names in the PC industry will have to embrace the Athlon before it achieves any significant penetration of the business market. Shipping this week, the Athlon (previously known as the K7) is available in 500MHz, 550MHz, 600MHz and 650MHz versions. Volume pricing per chip runs $324, $479, $699 and an estimated $992, respectively. For comparison, the 500MHz, 550MHz and 600MHz Pentium III chips cost $423, $658 and $669. The lower price for the Athlon 500MHz and 550MHz chips means they provide the most bang for the buck. |
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| August 9, 1999 | ||
Cyrix work force to be slashed by more than halfBy Michael Kanellos August 6, 1999 |
More than half the employees at Cyrix will be laid off before new owner Via Technologies acquires it.
Cyrix, the microprocessor division of National Semiconductor, said today that Via has directed that 170 employees will be laid off by the time the division comes under Via's the control. Via will then interview the remaining 160 employees for possible jobs within the company. Via, a Taiwanese chipset maker that is part of a large industrial consortium, bought Cyrix on June 30 for $167 million as part of a bid to challenge Intel in the market for low-cost PC processors. Earlier this week, the company also bought the processor subdivision of Integrated Device Technologies. |
See Today's Related Stories |
AMD to wrest away speed crown from IntelBy Michael Kanellos August 7, 1999 |
If all goes as planned, chipmaker AMD will finally be able to brag about having the fastest PC chip on the planet.
AMD will announce a 650-MHz version of the Athlon processor, formerly the K7, next week and make it available for sale the following week in an accelerated product launch, according to sources at the company. The chip will allow AMD to brag that its processors are faster than rival Intel, which recently released a 600-MHz Pentium III. No significant upgrades to the Pentium III line are due until November, according to an Intel spokesman. |
See Today's Related Stories |
A new day is dawning for AMD
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Advanced Micro Devices Inc. today will try to step out of Intel Corp.'s lengthy shadow. AMD is abandoning its 17-year strategy of copying Intel's successful line of chips as closely as possible -- and will focus instead on mimicking its cross-county rival's equally successful business model.
With the Athlon processor family's formal introduction, the Sunnyvale chip company is banking on creating a market for its products based on offering better performance and more features than competitors, rather than undercutting Intel on price for products designed for, and sold into, the ``me too'' market of Intel-based products. On the surface, AMD's latest attempt to challenge the Santa Clara-based semiconductor giant's overwhelming dominance in the microprocessor market revolves around a set of technological changes designed to establish AMD as an innovator on its own. |
See Today's Related Stories |
Intel Goes Mobile, But Not Yet
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Intel has once again come under fire for failing to deliver a chip on time, but this time the company claims it is not at fault and has nothing to hide.
Published reports on Thursday suggest that Intel was forced to delay the launch of the mobile Pentium III processor from September to November because of product glitches. However, the chip giant had a different story to tell. Intel officials say the confusion dates from one month ago, when the desktop version of the 0.18-micron mobile processor--code-named Coppermine--was delayed from September to November. At that time, the officials say, PC manufacturers were given the choice of launching notebooks with the mobile Pentium III in September as planned, or in November in conjunction with the desktop chips. |
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Pentium IIIs To Get Faster System BusBy Marcia Savage August 6, 1999 |
When Intel introduces a new version of its Pentium III chips with a faster system bus, VARs will not have to pay a price premium for the advanced feature, according to
sources.
On Sept. 27, Intel plans to roll out two Pentium III processors operating at 600 MHz and 533 MHz, both with a 133-MHz front-side bus, sources said. The chips will accompany the introduction of the 820 chip set, formerly code-named Camino, which will support the 133-MHz system bus. |
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VIA deal with IDT keeps heat on IntelBy Robert Lemos August 6, 1999 |
Chip set maker VIA Technologies Inc. has signed a letter of intent to purchase Integrated Device Technologies Inc. Intel-compatible chip technology.
"(Our) acquisition of IDT's Centaur design subsidiary further solidifies our design capability in the x86 arena," said Wen-Chi Chen, president of the Taipei, Taiwan-based VIA. Financial details of the sale were not revealed. For IDT, the deal is a no-brainer, said Dave Cote, vice president of marketing for the California company. Almost 70 percent of the company's revenue comes from semiconductors built for the communications market, he said. The PC processor market has not been so successful. "Our foray into the x86 business has been a tough road for us," he admitted. |
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Intel under the road-map gun againBy Dan Briody August 6, 1999 |
Intel has once again come under fire for failure to deliver a chip on time. And though this time the company is claiming it is not at fault and has nothing to hide, the issue has strained the tenuous relationship between Intel and its customers.
Published reports Thursday suggested that Intel was forced to delay the launch of the Mobile Pentium III processor from September to November because of product glitches. However, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant had a very different story to tell. Intel officials said that the confusion dates from one month ago, when the desktop version of the 0.18-micron processor -- code-named Coppermine -- was delayed from September to November. At that time, the officials said, PC OEMs were given a choice of launching Mobile Pentium III processor-based notebooks in September, as originally planned, or in November in conjunction with the desktop chips. |
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When will Intel's Coppermine debut?By John G. Spooner August 6, 1999 |
Who ever thought the processor market could be democratic or that a product delay could lead to a vote? But that's just what recently happened after Intel Corp. delayed the next version of Coppermine.
Coppermine is the code-name for Pentium III processors that will be made using Intel's 0.18 micron manufacturing process. The design will allow for several performance improvements for the Pentium III, including integrated Level 2 cache for desktop versions of the chip, lower power consumption for versions that go in portables, and cooler thermals for small form factor PCs. |
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AMD slapped with investor lawsuitsBy James Niccolai August 6, 1999 |
Advanced Micro Devices has been hit with more than a dozen class-action lawsuits alleging that company officials made misleading statements about production problems with the company's K6-2 and K6-3 microprocessors.
The lawsuits, filed between March 10 and April 22, seek unspecified damages, equitable relief and other litigation costs. AMD expects the lawsuits to be consolidated into a single lawsuit in the next several months, the company said in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. AMD's manufacturing history has been spotty at best, and throughout 1998 it was dogged by production problems related to its K6 family of chips. |
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Intel Price War Causes Casualties
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The costs of Intel's price war at the low end are starting to show. The intended target, AMD, is certainly suffering, reporting an operating loss of $173 million in the second quarter on a 26% decline in CPU revenues. But Intel is also feeling the pain: the company's second-quarter revenue and ASP (average selling price) were both down from the previous quarter, despite expectations that they would be steady. With AMD's Athlon poised to enter the market, the price war could spread to Intel's Pentium III products--which could prove disastrous for both companies.
The genesis of the price war came late last year as Intel's weak Celeron offerings were being hammered by low-end chips from AMD, Cyrix, and even IDT. Whenever Intel's market share dips below 80%, a big red light starts flashing in the CEO's office. In 4Q98, Intel's share of the x86 PC-processor market was only 75%, according to our estimates, with AMD's rising to 14%. CEO Barrett immediately put the Celeron troops on wartime status. |
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| The Register Files | ||
Intel may snap up AMDBy Mike Magee August 6, 1999 |
Speculation is mounting in the chip community that Intel might now feel able to buy AMD.
The chip giant would be safe from the threat of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) action because of Via's latest acquisition -- the IDT-Centaur x.86 business line. Earlier this week, Via said it would pay $167 million for Cyrix technology. AMD would not come too expensive. For over a month now, its share price has bumped along at a dismal $16 or so. AMD turned in a record loss-making quarter recently, and is in debt up to its eyeballs. |
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Intel Itanium trademark thin end of a thick wedgeBy Mike Magee August 6, 1999 |
Some weeks ago we reported that Intel had filed a trademark under the name
Itanium.
But now it has come to our notice that Intel may have breached the US copyright law by "reserving" trademark names. According to US Trademark Law, reserving trademark names is strictly prohibited. Over at the old Intel Secrets site is a list of names from some years back that Intel attempted to trademark. |
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Why does Via want Centaur technology?By Mike Magee August 6, 1999 |
Taiwanese chipset manufacturer Via may have bitten off more than it can chew with the acquisition of IDT's Centaur microprocessor business.
The cores of Cyrix processors and the WinChip line are very different and that raises questions about staff consolidation. However, and possibly this is more likely, owning the WinChip x.86 technology will give Via an extra bulwark in its up-and-coming legal battle with Intel. |
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AMD manages to undercut Intel on K7 pricingBy Mike Magee August 8, 1999 |
William Henning, over at CPU Review, has performed a price comparison between Intel Pentium IIIs and the up-and-coming Athlon K7.
The interesting thing is that the comparison is based on retail and not 1,000 pricing, and it shows that the Athlon is, by and large, cheaper than Pentium IIIs. The one exception is at the 600MHz level, which was going to be the sweet spot for AMD. |
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AMD K7 strategy is a tightrope walkBy Mike Magee August 6, 1999 |
We now know how AMD will position its Athlon into the high end market but at the same time it will build this push on its loyal consumer base.
It is a fact that AMD's success has traditionally been in the entry level end of the market, and they even managed to break Intel's stranglehold on the retail market in the US earlier this year. But in pushing into the corporate marketplace, AMD has to be very careful it does not antagonise the very people who have backed it in the recent past. |
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| Today's Related Stories | ||
AMD betting on 650MHz Athlon chipBy John G. Spooner August 8, 1999 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. will at long last become the top performer in the processor market
with Monday's release of the 650MHz Athlon chip.
The Sunnyvale, Calif., chip maker will finally outdistance its arch rival from Santa Clara, Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC). At least for now. Athlon, on paper, meets or exceeds Intel's Pentium III chip in megahertz, graphics performance and floating point performance. |
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National lays off 170 employees as part of Cyrix saleBy Mark Hachman August 6, 1999 |
National Semiconductor Corp. has laid off 170 engineers and related staff associated with the Cyrix design team the company is selling to Via Technologies Inc.
A spokesman for National said Via executives had requested the layoffs, as they have no need for all of the Cyrix employees. The remaining 160 or so National personnel will be transferred to Via as part of the Cyrix sale, which is worth $167 million (see Aug. 3 story). All of the personnel that National is letting go were involved in some way with the Cyrix M-II chip, an x86 microprocessor. The National spokesman said that those laid off will be given the opportunity to interview with Via as well as National, possibly to join the integrated processor design team National retained following the Cyrix sale. Though announced today, the layoffs will take effect in 60 days and will include a service-based compensation package. |
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