The Register Files

Collected By Robert R. Collins

Week of December 17, 2000

Older News

Chip wars to reach boiling point in 2001

By John G. Spooner

December 21, 2000
C/Net

The chipmakers were tripped up unexpectedly by slower sales in the fourth quarter, caused in part by a weaker market for personal computers.

Though the conditions put a damper on the companies' otherwise stellar performance in 2000, they raise even larger questions for the new year.

Intel stumbles, AMD gains in 2000

By Michael Kanellos

December 20, 2000
C/Net

Back then, Intel lorded over AMD. Craig Barrett, who succeeded Andy Grove as Intel CEO in March 1998, kicked off a strategy to diversify the company's revenue base.

AMD, meanwhile, was struggling with financial losses and sporadic inventory and manufacturing problems. Analysts questioned whether the company would have to find co-tenants to help pay for its planned fabrication facility in Dresden, Germany.

What Next for Crusoe?

By Wesley Parish

December 20, 2000
osOpinion.com

The article said that the Crusoe chip had put most of the functionality normally expected in hardware into a software layer. With a 128-bit bus, it was consequently capable of running 32-bit Intel applications at a comparable speed to native Intel hardware.

Intel won't charge royalties for USB 2.0 host spec

By Jerry Ascierto

December 21, 2000
EE Times

Unwilling to revisit the confusion surrounding the multiple host controller interface specs of Universal Serial Bus 1.0, Intel developed the new spec in conjunction with NEC, Philips, Lucent, Microsoft and Compaq. "On the second version of USB, we looked at how we could learn from the first round, and we decided that it was better for the industry for there to be one spec that was available to everybody," Jason Ziller, an Intel technology initiatives manager, said in releasing 2.0 this week.

The Register Files

AMD takeover rumour rolls again

By Mike Magee

December 20, 2000
The Register

Intel's share price closed on Wall Street last night at $33.3475.

According to information received, AMD operates on a P/E ratio of around five, INTC at a P/E ratio of around 22 and Trancemeta? Who knows.

Tualatin a big B-step for Intelkind

By Mike Magee

December 20, 2000
The Register

This will extend the frequency of Intel's PIII processor in the third quarter of next year, and volume is likely to increase as the .13 micron process begins its ramp.

The 815 B-Step chipset will allow the building of one motherboard to support Tualatin and Coppermine chips - that itself requiring changes to existing mobos.

Intel to push Rambus hard in 2001

By Mike Magee

December 21, 2000
The Register

That means a big ramboost for Rambus Inc, with SDRAM support unready until Q2 of next year, and DDR promised for the following year, 2002.

And to that end Intel appears to be pulling out all the stops on pricing including, as our Pentium 4 article showed yesterday, by slashing the 1GHz Pentium III by 40 per cent in late January.

Intel's delayed fab portends capital spending hit

By Paul Kallender and Anthony Cataldo

December 15, 2000
EE Times

Others believe that the industry is driving toward a soft landing, and predict that next year chip vendors will spend just slightly more than they did this year on new equipment.

Mainstream processors prepare for Level 3 cache

By Anthony Cataldo

December 15, 2000
EE Times

Also on the table are new pipeline techniques, more floating-point horsepower and even finer-grained speculation methods in forthcoming generations of the IA-32 processors, which analysts say have another five years before they are subsumed into the 64-bit processing realm.

The Register Files

Intel, Rambus beefing up legal departments

By Andrew Thomas

December 18, 2000
The Register

Meanwhile, Rambus is also looking to hire another patent attorney here, whose job description includes the phrase "You will also perform licensing activities such as developing infringement positions and presentations".

AMD denies limiting mobile Duron family

By Mike Magee

December 16, 2000
The Register

Sources close to Asian notebook firms had claimed that AMD had restricted designs using the mobile Duron to four big ODMs (original design manufacturers) and to Toshiba in Japan.

Foster, Xeon prices and strategies leak

By Mike Magee

December 18, 2000
The Register

That could be as early as Q1 next year, although currently Chipzilla is keeping its cards close to its chest.

However, roadmaps seen by The Register just a few days ago, show that the 1GHz Pentium III Xeon, which cost $515 on the 29th of October last, will be dropped in price to $425 on the 28th January, while the 1GHz using the SECC2 package, will fall to $358 from its October price of $475 on the same day.

Pentium III not long for this world

By Mike Magee

December 18, 2000
The Register

But there are some clear differences from the past.

Unlike the good old days when the Intel gravy train seemed to chug on to its next destination making stops to drop off old chips at various retirement homes for senior x86 citizens, this latest roadmap shows clear signs that the proprietary arrogance of yore is showing signs of wear and tear.

VIA centres sights on .13 micron Samuel II

By Tony Smith

December 18, 2000
The Register

That way, the company hopes to take ten per cent of the global CPU market - amounting to around 15 million microprocessors - which it reckons will push its processor production operation into profit, according to a company official cited in a report by Taiwanese business paper the Commercial Times.