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Microprocessor
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Top Stories for November 5, 1999 (details below) |
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| C/Net | Rambus memory will debut November 15 |
| Computer Reseller News |
Intel To Launch 820 Chipset Nov. 15 Supports Rambus memory for desktop systems |
| c't Magazine | Of Bus Accidents and Tremors |
| The Register Files | |
| The Register | Intel's Otellini: We've nothing to apologise for over Via, FIC |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of October 31, 1999 |
Older News |
November 5, 1999 |
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Rambus memory will debut November 15By Michael Kanellos November 4, 1999 |
Intel has confirmed it will release its 820 chipset on November 15, a component debut that will permit computer makers to finally come out with PCs that take advantage of speedier Rambus memory.
Intel spokesman Dan Francisco confirmed that the chip making giant has performed the final testing on the 820 chipset, code-named Camino, and that it will release the product on the first day of Comdex, the week- long computer extravaganza in Las Vegas that starts on November 14. |
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Intel To Launch 820 Chipset Nov. 15
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Intel Corp. Thursday said it has rescheduled the launch of the 820 chipset, which supports Rambus memory technology, for Nov. 15.
Intel has resolved the platform integration issues, and the chipset and platforms built around the 820 chipset are ready for the marketplace, an Intel spokesman said. Intel, based here, finalized validation of the chipset with a two-socket RIMM configuration, he said. |
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Of Bus Accidents and TremorsBy Andreas Stiller Vol. 21, 1999 |
The season of bad news. One catastrophe followed hard on the other, whirlwinds devastated regions in America and Asia, earthquakes in Taiwan and Mexico, and the nuclear power once again proved its in principle uncontrolability. The catastrophes also effected massively the economy - in addition to self-made catastrophes like Intels Rambus disaster.
The Taiwanese chip and board industries' destiny after the numerous massive earthquakes was the main theme of many commentaries in the economics press. Too much of the world economys HiTech segment depends on companies like UMC, TMSC, Winbond, VIA, SiS and Ali, all located in the gigantic industrial estate Hsinchu, not far from the capitol Taipeh. In a total of 28 fabs nearly 80% of all graphics chips are produced, the share of Super I/O chips, certain flash types, clock generators and many other components is equally high. Chipsets and last but not least memory chips (approx. 15% of the world market) of course are equally concerned. More on page 82. |
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The Register Files |
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Intel's Otellini: We've nothing to apologise for over Via, FICBy Simon Burns November 4, 1999 |
"We have nothing to apologise for," Intel executive vice president, Paul Otellini, told The Register earlier today. Otellini was speaking in Taipei days after the giant US chipmaker sued Taiwan's First International Computer (FIC) and others for patent violation.
Industry insiders claim Intel has targeted FIC to put further pressure on local chipmaker, VIA Technologies, with whom the US company has a long-running dispute. FIC along with Everex, one of several other companies named in the suit, has close ties to Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Group, and to VIA. Otellini denied this, saying "we are not picking on any one company." |
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November 4, 1999 |
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Intel ends Camino chipset delaysBy Reuters November 3, 1999 |
Intel plans to formally introduce in the next couple of weeks a new memory chipset which has been delayed due to compatibility problems, Intel chief executive officer Craig Barrett said today.
"We do plan to formally introduce the Camino chipset or the 820 chipset supporting Rambus within the next couple of weeks," Barrett told a news conference here. He did not provide an exact date for the introduction. As previously reported, several PC makers will be announcing Rambus-based systems with the 820 chipset at the Comdex trade show in Las Vegas, which begins November 15. |
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Direct RDRAM (Almost) Arrives in PCs
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After years of anticipation, the first personal computers with Rambus main memory are on the verge of shipping. The fight to establish Rambus as a mainstream solution has been far longer than its backers anticipated, and it has produced an extraordinary amount of contention and controversy. The Rambus approach offers a lot of long-term benefit, but in the near term it is less compelling. Much of the contention derives from Intel's staunch backing of Rambus with an eye toward the long-term benefit, while critics focus on the short-term costs.
The debut of Direct RDRAM PCs has been seriously marred by Intel's last-minute pull-back on its 820 chip set, the first to support RDRAMs (see MPR 10/6/99, p. 30). Sporadic memory errors in some systems with three RIMM sockets caused Intel to delay the announcement and shipment of the 820, which was already months late. The problems that led to this delay give fuel to those who have criticized the Direct RDRAM electrical interface as pushing the limits of what the PC industry can reliably produce. |
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Intel's Solano chipset to take on PC133 SDRAM in JanuaryBy Jack Robertson November 3, 1999 |
The first chipset from Intel Corp. to support PC133 SDRAM will be the Solano, an upgraded device from within the Intel 810 chipset family that will debut in January-not a new chipset code-named Amador, as has been widely rumored on Wall Street, sources close to the matter said today.
Separately, Intel will formally introduce the Camino, or Intel 820, chipset Nov. 15, offering support for Direct Rambus DRAM in desktop PC platforms. The company confirmed that the rescheduled launch will include only a two-socket RIMM memory module configuration, instead of the three-socket version that triggered the chipset's latest delay in September. |
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With Intel in mind, Via, S3 team up on chipsetsBy Michael Kanellos November 3, 1999 |
Chipset maker Via Technologies is teaming with S3 to develop a new wave of PC components and to get around a patent dispute with Intel.
The two firms this week have formed a joint venture, tentatively titled S3-Via, that will focus on making "integrated" chipsets for PCs and notebooks. Chipsets work as a communications hub inside a PC. Via is currently locked in a series of vicious and highly publicized intellectual property lawsuits with Intel. Via is selling Intel-compatible chipsets, but Intel is suing them for it and also suing some companies that are buying Via's chipsets. |
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Why Change Instruction Sets?
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The recent Microprocessor Forum provoked more debate than usual about the direction of high-end processors. Products rolling out in 2001 will deliver performance from varying combinations of instruction-level parallelism (ILP) and thread-level parallelism (TLP). These alternatives give new ammunition to the debate over whether new instruction sets are necessary to achieve high performance in the future.
Over the past several years, vendors have added new features to their high-end microprocessors, virtually in lockstep, embracing first superscalar, then instruction reordering as the key techniques for improving performance. The x86 vendors even adopted internal RISC engines, minimizing microarchitectural differences among processors. |
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The Register Files |
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HP pushed Intel down Merced DDR memory routeBy Mike Magee November 3, 1999 |
Chip company Intel is under pressure on a number of fronts and has all sorts of deals to make with all sorts of people. It's the keystone that cops all sorts of trouble when things go awry.
But now it has emerged from a source close to its plans that it was Hewlett Packard which persuaded Intel to adopt a non-Rambus chipset for future server platforms. According to the source, HP told Intel it would not go to market with the Merced-Itanium unless it used non-Rambus memory. |
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Intel chipset volte face will hit Rambus hardBy Mike Magee November 3, 1999 |
Amador City, close to the strangely named Dry Town in a wine-growing area of California, is the code name of choice for Intel's excursion into the wonderful world of
SDRAM, PC-133 and double data rate (DDR) memory next year.
Information we received yesterday from two separate semiconductor analysts in the US, suggest that the Amador chipset, which will use PC-133 memory, signifies a further shift by pragmatic Intel away from Rambus. |
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KMS responds to Intel lawsuitBy Mike Magee November 3, 1999 |
UK distributor KMS has now confirmed it has received a long brown envelope from Intel containing an accusation that is involved in patent infringement.
Linda Drew, company secretary at KMS, said the firm had received a writ in the High Court from Intel, in which her company, First International Computer (FIC) and Via were also named as defendants. KMS said: The nature of Intel's claim is described as "patent infringements". The exact details of those alleged infringements cannot be discussed at present, but the defendants and their lawyers are looking closely at the patent involved and Intel's allegations. KMS intend to respond to Intel within the 14 day limit that is specified." |
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Chipzilla chops chipBy Peter Sherriff November 3, 1999 |
The first Pentium III to die has quietly shuffled off this mortal coil. The 450MHz part has been consigned to the chip gulag in the usual low-key manner -- no official announcement, it just stops being mentioned in
dispatches.
The untimely death -- the poor little thing was only launched at the end of February -- was caused by the inexorably rise of the Celeron range bringing so many bangs per buck that the slowest PIII just couldn't keep up, despite its Screaming Cindy Extensions. |
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Cooked Athlon 800MHz, 900MHz up for sale in USABy Mike Magee November 3, 1999 |
An American site is offering Athlon 800MHz and 900MHz for sale, many months before the chips are likely to be available.
That has led AMD to the conclusion that the chips must be cryogenically cooled, although the Web site is not clear on this point. They're not cheap. If you turn to Shop USA, the site is offering 800MHz and 900MHz Athlons at $2,199 and $2,799.99 respectively. |
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November 3, 1999 |
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S3, Via team up against Intel
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Graphics chip maker S3 Inc. and Via Technologies are joining forces to take on Intel Corp. in the fast-growing market for inexpensive chips that combine a number of key features into a single product.
The two companies are in the process of forming a joint venture, currently named S3-Via Inc., and are already showing PC manufacturers prototypes of the product that combines S3's graphics technology with a standard chip set -- the semiconductors that act as a bridge between a computer's processor and the rest of the system. Intel pioneered that market with its recently introduced 810 chip set. Combining the ability to process standard graphics data with the chip set lowers the overall cost of the PC and takes up less space -- important considerations for the low-priced PCs and laptop computers that S3-Via will target with the product. |
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S3, Via create new venture aimed at integrated chipset developmentBy Mark Hachman November 2, 1999 |
In a move carefully calculated to avoid legal recrimination, graphics vendor S3 Inc. and chipset supplier Via Technologies Inc. have formed a product development joint venture.
The new company, tentatively named S3-Via Inc., will be structured as a subsidiary of S3 and will be based in Santa Clara, Calif. According to an S3 spokesman, the new entity will be placed squarely under S3's legal umbrella, which is well reinforced given the company's broad, 10-year patent agreement with Intel Corp. Analysts said the deal also should avoid sliding into the type of rancorous feuding that occurred following a similar pact Via struck with graphics house and S3 rival, Trident Microsystems Inc. |
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S3-Via venture pursues high-end chip sets, potential acquisitionsNovember 2, 1999 |
S3 Inc. and Via Technologies Inc. today unveiled a joint venture in high-end chip sets for PC graphics and core logic used in desktop personal computers and notebook systems.
The new venture, called S3-Via Inc., expands on a previously announced alliance between the two companies and will have exclusive access to technology and distribution rights for developed products between S3 and Via. In addition, the joint venture has the financial backing from S3 and Via to pursue acquisitions of other companies and technologies related to the chip set segment. |
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The Register Files |
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i820 pushed back to week 48; Amador emergesBy Mike Magee November 2, 1999 |
Almost every day for the last two weeks we've been forced to write a story about Rambus and the famous i820 chip debacle. But we've got a new codename and some hard information.
We vowed we wouldn't, today, but a snippet of information came our way which has big implications for the entire industry. First, it now appears that a 2+0 i820 Rambus motherboard, that is a board with two RIMM sockets to hold only two of the costly memory modules, will arrive in week 48. |
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SiS to provide backward Socket 370 compatibilityBy Mike Magee November 2, 1999 |
Intel may not want to have people to plug shiny new Coppermine processors into old socket 370 mobos, but sources claim such a solution is on the way from Taiwanese vendor
SiS.
According to reliable information received, SiS will build functions into its 630 chipset which will allow end users to swap freely between old Socket 370 chips and the newer, flip chip Coppermines. We're unlikely to see new flip chip Socket 370s until the New Year, according to a number of motherboard manufacturers. |
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FIC responds to Intel's legal actionBy Mike Magee November 2, 1999 |
Taiwanese firm First International Computer (FIC) has released a statement responding to Intel's legal action against the firm.
And the firm is figuratively waving two fingers at Chipzilla, saying that it will carry on making motherboards using Via chipsets. FIC said that it would respect any court decisions, but is surprised that it has received a summons from lawyers at the Santa Clara firm for the use of Via chipsets. |
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FTC should re-open Intel investigationBy Mike Magee November 2, 1999 |
In hindsight, Intel's statement about why it has extended its law suit to comprise not just Via but a clutch of other firms more or less related to the Taiwanese company doesn't make as much sense as it seems.
First of all, of course Intel has a duty to its shareholders. And of course it has a duty to its other licensees. But its latest legal maneuverings make it look petty, vindictive and scheming, even if it isn't. It isn't just little Everex which uses Via chipsets. HP, IBM and Compaq use this technology too. But rather than take on the giants like a real Chipzilla would, Intel gives the impression of choosing to stomp all over the little people instead. |
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November 2, 1999 |
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AMD eyes 4Q restructuring charge
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Advanced Micro Devices Inc. might take a fourth-quarter restructuring charge as part of an ongoing drive to cut costs, according to documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission Monday.
In the filing, AMD, the world's second-largest manufacturer of microprocessors, said it may incur restructuring charges in addition to the $33 million the company already has taken this year in the first and second quarter. No such charges were taken in the third quarter. Earlier this year, executives have said that AMD could take as much as $50 million in restructuring charges this year, according to a company spokesman. |
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Intel widens legal dispute with Via TechnologiesBy Jack Robertson November 1, 1999 |
Intel Corp. late last week broadened its legal action against Via Technologies Inc. and its allegedly unauthorized use of Intel technology by dragging Via's customers and associates before courts in the United Kingdom and Singapore.
Intel sued Taiwan-based First International Computer (FIC) for selling motherboards in the U.K. that feature Via's disputed Apollo Pro Plus and Apollo Pro133 chipsets. Intel also sued a U.K.-based distributor, KMS Components Ltd., for selling the FIC boards with the Via chipset. |
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Intel's New Mexico plant caught in water warBy Patrick May October 31, 1999 |
Just down the hill from Intel's massive chip-making plant, the Rio Grande slips southward toward Mexico, a sloppy chocolate pudding of a river. Its banks are lush with cottonwood. It's fat and happy, and hardly looks like a river slowly being sucked dry.
Up on the parched mesa, bunny-suited Intel crews punch in and out of the largest factory of its kind on Earth, a stretch of America's high-tech assembly line that pumps up and gulps down four million gallons of water a day to slice and dice silicon wafers. |
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The Register Files |
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Intel Santa Clarifies Via legal pursuitBy Mike Magee November 1, 1999 |
A senior representative at Intel US has now spelled out the most recent actions it has taken against companies alleged to infringe its patents.
Chuck Molloy, a representative at Intel US, said that the firm had taken action against FIC, KMS in the UK; against Aquest, Jet Systems, Jetway and Via in Singapore; and against FIC America, FIC International and Everex in the US. |
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More Taiwanese mobo makers get jitters after Intel suitBy Simon Burns November 1, 1999 |
The lawsuits Intel issued at the end of last week to FIC (First International Computer) may be the first in a legal broadside against other firms.
Lawsuits filed in the US, UK and Singapore, also name FIC affiliate, Everex, a US-based maker of computer systems. The suits appear to be based on the two companies' use of chips designed by Taiwan-based VIA Technologies. VIA, FIC and Everex all have ties to the giant Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) and the Wang family, which controls FPG. FIC supplies motherboards to several major PC makers, including Compaq. |
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Japanese site confirms S370 CuMine delaysBy Mike Magee November 1, 1999 |
A shop in the Akihabara district of Tokyo is displaying pictures of Intel's Coppermine S370 flip chip product and the Via-Cyrix Joshua processor.
But in the case of the former product, while Intel made an "announcement" of the S370 Coppermines last Monday, no product will be forthcoming for some time, according to the shop showing the pictures. According to this page, the CPU heatsink and fan is somewhat different from the conventional socket. |
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i820 still waiting to bottom outBy Mike Magee November 1, 1999 |
A senior Intel PR executive today confirmed that the company is still working on a solution for the problem with Rambus memory that caused it to withdraw its motherboards a month back.
Howard High, in charge of Intel public relations at its HQ in Santa Clara, said that his firm was still ironing out one or two problems but was still on target to deliver a solution by the end of the quarter. Intel has told its PC OEMs, including Dell, that they will be able to go with the i820 chipset in the second or third week of November, as already reported here. |
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Chipzilla pauses to think about Rambus InkBy Mike Magee November 1, 1999 |
Reluctantly, very reluctantly, it appears as if chip giant Intel has really revised its buffalo stance on
Rambus.
Reports are now suggesting that the towering giant, tired of appearing in the Monty Python Silly Walk sketch which is Caminogate, is now closer than ever to admitting defeat and will stop forcing Rambus down the throats of all of its customers and erstwhile friends. |
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November 1, 1999 |
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Intel expands Via lawsuit, suing its customersBy Michael Kanellos October 29, 1999 |
Intel has expanded its legal war against Via Technologies by filing a bevy of lawsuits against the Taiwanese chipset maker as well as companies that have adopted Via's products.
Three different sets of lawsuits have been filed against Via, its partners, and customers in San Jose, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. Although the specific claims and defendants vary from suit to suit, all of the actions share a similar theme. |
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System makers commit to wide range of memory optionsBy Jack Robertson October 29, 1999 |
Intel Corp. has apparently thrown the fate of Direct Rambus DRAM to the open market, acknowledging that OEM interest in rival PC133 and PC266 double-data-rate SDRAM is now too great to ignore.
The policy shift means that instead of supporting non-Rambus memory on a interim-and reluctant-basis, Intel will give greater weight to each of the three emerging DRAM architectures. OEMs are responding in turn by incorporating Rambus, PC133, PC266 DDR, and even older PC100 SDRAM in their new platforms. |
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DRAM prices may be heading south for winterBy Anthony Cataldo October 29, 1999 |
After four years in the pricing dumpster, DRAM makers finally were able again to raise prices
significantly this fall and tell customers to stand in line for orders. But that party has been rudely interrupted by a price collapse in recent weeks that threatens to linger well into November.
Figurative aftershocks from the Taiwan quake and a reluctance on the part of PC makers to raise prices due to the high cost of components have conspired to cause the counterintuitive price drop, setting off a cat fight between OEMs and their memory suppliers and altering system design plans. |
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The Register Files |
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Intel sues FIC, Everex as Via legal action mountsBy Mike Magee October 31, 1999 |
Intel has expanded its legal war against Via Technologies by filing a bevy of fresh lawsuits against the Taiwanese chipset maker as well as companies that have adopted Via's products.
As predicted here in mid-September, legal action has been extended to include mobo manufacturers, including UK and Singapore companies, and smaller PC manufacturers, as well as renewed action against Via in the US. FIC, a well known motherboard manufacturer, and Everex are named in the legal actions. |
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Intel CuMine fails to dampen AMD's Athlon squibBy Mike Magee October 29, 1999 |
PC vendors are being told by their distributors and brokers that supply on Slot 1 Intel cartridges is constrained.
That follows the launch of Intel's "Coppermine" 733MHz processor at the beginning of the week, and a further story showing there were big delays on its flip-chip S370 technology and its mobile parts. Intel has generated demand it cannot supply. |
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Intel likely to bring Solano chipset forwardBy Mike Magee October 29, 1999 |
Sources close to Intel plans said today that the company had plans to release its i815
(Solano) chipset early, in a bid to bridge some of the gaps in its portfolio.
The Solano chipset, although an extension of the i810 (Whitney) chipset, has support for AGP 4x. Although it was intended to be produced in the first half of next year, the indications now are that it will bring the introduction forward. That could be as early as December according to the sources, who added that Intel will make modifications so that an AGP slot can be added to motherboards. |
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Dell's hidden page on Rambus exposedBy Mike Magee October 29, 1999 |
Perhaps one of the PC manufacturers which has suffered the most from Intel's decision to withdraw its i820 board at the last minute is Dell. It was very, very ready to roll until the very last minute.
But wait. It used to have a page all about how wonderful Rambus was and a reader has sent us a copy. The page was here but it's Web-brushed out, to be replaced by this page here which says how wonderful SDRAM is. |
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How Intel spreads its risks...By Mike Magee October 31, 1999 |
The day was, and it wasn't that long ago, that Intel was perceived as a one product company.
That product was the x.86 microprocessor and we noted some four or five years back how it was extending its tentacles into other areas of the PC industry, including, or especially, the networking business. From a position of being nowhere, last year Intel became the top worldwide supplier of network interface cards (NICs), toppling 3Com from its commodity pile. |
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Willamette due 2H 2000By Peter Sherriff October 29, 1999 |
We've been keeping a pretty close watch on Chipzilla's reaction to Athlon's success, as have a sizeable number of moles around the World. So when a normally reliable source tells us Willamette is coming real soon now, we pass that info on to our readers.
It appears, however, that this time our sources got a bit ahead of themselves with the timescales as Intel officially stated yesterday that the fabled 'Athlon killer' won't appear before the second half of next year. |
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