 |  |
 | |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Microprocessor
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top Stories for July 7, 2000 (details below) | |
| TechWeb Finance | Taiwan government delays S3-Via joint venture |
| Semiconductor Business News | Intel allows Via to support MPUs with DDR chip sets under new pact |
| C/Net | Intel leans on analysts to bump up earnings estimates |
| The Register Files | |
| The Register | Major vendors cagey on Transmeta support |
| The Register | Via-Cyrix runs into PR problem |
| The Register | Intel CuMines stiffed by suppliers |
| The Register | Return of the Son of Willamette |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of July 2, 2000 |
Older News |
| July 7, 2000 | ||
Taiwan government delays S3-Via joint ventureBy Mark Hachman July 6, 2000 |
The government in Taiwan has delayed the joint venture between S3 and Via Technologies, the companies said Thursday.
According to a statement released by S3 (stock: SIII), Santa Clara, Calif., changes in Taiwan's government have led to delays in regulatory approval of S3-Via, the joint venture between the two companies. |
|
Intel allows Via to support MPUs with DDR chip sets under new pactBy Jack Robertson July 6, 2000 |
Intel Corp. here acknowledged that its new licensing agreement with Via Technologies Inc. clears the way for the Taiwan chip set supplier to support double data rate (DDR) memories for Celeron processors in desktop PCs. If that catches on, it could be a setback for Rambus DRAMs, which are heavily backed by Intel.
On Wednesday, Intel and Via Technologies announced a settlement to a legal dispute over chip-set patents. Under a new licensing pact, Via will pay Intel a lump sum and ongoing royalties for access to technologies used in chip sets serving Pentium III and Celeron microprocessors. |
|
Intel leans on analysts to bump up earnings estimatesBy Bloomberg News July 6, 2000 |
When Intel announced June 20 that second-quarter earnings would include an additional $1.57 billion from investments, most of the 28 analysts who follow the chipmaker excluded the one-time gain from their forecasts.
As Goldman Sachs analyst Joe Moore put it in a June 21 research note, the investments are "non-recurring and not operational in nature." But Intel doesn't take "no" lightly. |
|
The Register Files |
||
Major vendors cagey on Transmeta supportBy Tony Smith July 6, 2000 |
IBM's interest in Transmeta's Crusoe mobile CPU appears to be cooling. According to IBM program director Leo Suarez, cited by VNUNet, Big Blue's Crusoe-powered ThinkPad 240, shown at PC Expo last week, was just a proof-of-concept machine, not a product announcement.
"Our engineering team will be validating that we can bring to market this type of machine," said Suarez. "We are talking to customers to gauge their interest and, based on a successful engineering design and positive feedback, we will be willing and ready to introduce a Transmeta mini-notebook in the fall. |
|
Via-Cyrix runs into PR problemBy Mike Magee July 6, 2000 |
Sources close to the manufacturers of the Cyrix-branded Centaur microprocessor said today that technical difficulties are preventing Via from producing 666MHz versions of the chip.
Via announced the Cyrix III chip in Taipei last month, in a blaze of publicity. Joshua died officially inside Via last week, partly because semiconductor engineers could only make it clock at 400MHz, we understand. |
|
Intel CuMines stiffed by suppliersBy Mike Magee July 6, 2000 |
Continued difficulties in obtaining components is behind the latest delay in Intel Coppermine processors, we can report.
According to Japanese sources, a sliver of ceramic used to make Coppermine chips run at the right speed is still in short supply. Although Intel CuMine chips are based on plastic packages, making a silicon chip is a very complicated process. Intel depends on thousands of suppliers to make everything work properly. |
|
Return of the Son of WillametteBy Andrew Thomas July 6, 2000 |
Intel's 479 pin son of Willamette, due for launch next year, now has its very own codename, Prescott. A die shrink from 0.18 to 0.13 micron, Prescott and its associated Tulloch chipset are expected to support both synchronous and Rambus memory. | |
| July 6, 2000 | ||
IBM casts doubt on Transmeta commitmentBy Jo Ticehurst July 5, 2000 |
Success is not guaranteed for Transmeta's Crusoe chip, despite the hype surrounding it and prototype demonstrations by major PC vendors last week.
IBM was one of four vendors demonstrating Crusoe-based notebooks at last week's PC Expo trade show in New York. But the company has stressed that it was just showing a prototype, and that an actual product launch depended on customer demand. |
|
Will Crusoe remain on a desert island?By Jo Ticehurst July 5, 2000 |
Last week's PC Expo show in New York saw a string of computer giants parading prototype machines based on US startup Transmeta's low-power Crusoe processor.
Despite the apparent support, however, it is still unclear whether the chip's promise will translate into commercial sales and give the company a place in the highly competitive processor market already dominated by the likes of Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). |
|
Compaq teams with Quanta, contemplates Transmeta PCs July 5, 2000 |
Compaq has unveiled an extensive alliance with the Quanta Group, a Taiwanese manufacturing conglomerate, that ideally will lead to better supplies of notebooks and flat-panel screens for the PC maker.
Compaq officials also separately stated that the company is investigating releasing notebooks for the consumer and commercial markets containing Transmeta's Crusoe chip. |
|
Intel, Via bury most of hatchet in chipset lawsuitBy Michael Kanellos and Ian Fried July 5, 2000 |
Intel and Via Technologies have settled the bulk of their wide-ranging lawsuit in a way that will allow Via to sell Pentium III-compatible chipsets.
Under the settlement, announced today, Taiwan-based Via will pay Intel an undisclosed lump sum and provide the chip giant with ongoing royalty payments. In return, Via will have a license to manufacture chipsets for computers containing Pentium III, Celeron and earlier Intel processors. |
|
Intel shelves 800-MHz Xeon chipBy Stephen Shankland July 5, 2000 |
Intel has canceled plans for high-end versions of its 800-MHz Xeon processor, saying computer makers didn't want the chip.
The Xeon is Intel's high-end version of its Pentium III. The most expensive Xeons come with 1MB or 2MB of high-speed cache memory built into the chip itself. Intel released 700-MHz versions of these large-cache Xeons in May but decided to skip the 800-MHz version, company spokesman Otto Pijpker said today. |
|
The Register Files |
||
AMD whets knife for fresh blood lettingBy Mike Magee July 5, 2000 |
AMD is set to take the whet stone to its price axe at the end of this month, and further embarrass chip giant Intel by attacking it in the business sector.
Sources close to AMD's plans in Taiwan said that the price cuts are likely to be in the order of 40 per cent, with the 1GHz microprocessor processor the particular target of the firm's desire. |
|
Pentium 4 mystery gizmos explainedBy Andrew Thomas June 30, 2000 |
In our Pentium 4 picture special yesterday, we wondered aloud about what a collection of small devices attached to the bottom of the chip were.
"The gizmos on the bottom appear to be GTL+ 50 ohm terminators. "Basically all Intel Cpus post Pentium Pro have a bus unit based on an open standard for interfacing called GTL. GTL is an 'open drain' interface which means that there is only 1 transistor that switches on the low side to ground. Thus each pin has to have a pull up to supply in order to switch. These are low valued 50 ohm pullups that also serve to terminate their lines. |
|
Intel spin paramedic refuses to comment on P4By Andrew Thomas June 30, 2000 |
In our little collection of Pentium 4 pix here, we referred to the additional 12 volt connector on the motherboard labelled 'CPU power' and surmised that it was something to do with diagnostics on the prototype WTVV
mobo.
We asked Intel to confirm or deny that production P4 mobos would have this additional connector, but the response was the usual 'we don't comment on unannounced products'. |
|
Intel's 1.13GHz PIII paper tiger growlsBy Mike Magee June 30, 2000 |
Chip giant Intel confirmed today that it will release a 1.13GHz Pentium III at the end of July, but in limited quantities.
The processor will ramp up throughout the rest of this year, however, an Intel representative said. The chip is mainly aimed at the enthusiast market, he added. The intro of the faster Pentium III is interesting because it is being launched before supplies of the 1GHz Pentium III have become widely available. |
|
Today's Related Stories |
||
Via agrees to payout, royalties to end legal squabble with IntelBy Jack Robertson July 5, 2000 |
Intel Corp. and Via Technologies Inc. late Wednesday settled a lawsuit over chipset technology, a deal under which Via once again will be licensed to produce certain chipsets that support Pentium III and Celeron microprocessors.
All civil suits filed by Intel against the chip maker in the United States, United Kingdom, and Singapore, as well as a complaint lodged with the U.S. International Trade Commission will be dropped. |
|
Intel, Via settle suits over chip-set patents with new licensing pactJuly 5, 2000 |
Intel Corp. and Taiwan's Via Technologies Inc. today announced a settlement to their legal battle over a 1998 licensing agreement covering chip-set technology for PC microprocessors. Via will once again be licensed to produce certain chip sets for Intel's Pentium III and Celeron processors under a new licensing agreement.
Under the settlement, Intel will receive a lump sum payment from Via Technologies, which will also pay ongoing royalty fees to the Santa Clara chip giant. Details about the payments and other terms in the settlement were not released. |
|
| Advertisement |