Microprocessor
Headline News

Top Stories for February 2, 2001 (details below)
EE Times	Intel launches subnotebook CPUs to counter Crusoe
Bloomberg.com	Via Says January Sales Almost Double on Chip Demand
The Register Files
The Register	Chipzilla readies 1GHz Mobile PIII
The Register	Intel plant discharges excess emissions

Microprocessor Headline News

Collected By Robert R. Collins

Week of January 28, 2001

Older News

February 2, 2001
Intel launches subnotebook CPUs to counter Crusoe By Jerry Ascierto January 30, 2001 EE Times	Moving to catch up with newcomer Transmeta Corp. in the low-power microprocessor arena, Intel Corp. on Tuesday (Jan. 30) unveiled a pair of chips aimed at the mobile market: a 500-MHz Pentium III processor that operates at less than 1 volt and a 500-MHz Celeron processor with an eye on the subnotebook segment. The processors will compete against Transmeta's X86-compatible, low-power devices, which have aggressively pursued Intel's notebook market share. However, the Santa Clara, Calif., chip giant brushed off suggestions that Transmeta stands poised to grab the upper hand in the subnotebook space.
Via Says January Sales Almost Double on Chip Demand By Brett Cole February 2, 2001 Bloomberg.com	Via Technologies Inc., Taiwan's largest chipset maker, said its January sales almost doubled from a year ago on growing demand from computer motherboard makers. Via said January sales were NT$3 billion ($93 million), up 91 percent from a year ago. The company expects revenue in February and March to rise as computer motherboard makers such as Asustek Computer Inc. and Gigabyte Technology Ltd. order more chipsets.
The Register Files
Chipzilla readies 1GHz Mobile PIII By Tony Smith January 31, 2001 The Register	Intel will launch its first 1GHz mobile processor next March, less than a month after releasing a 700MHz "low voltage" PIII, the follow-up to this week's "ultra-low voltage" 500MHz PIII. March will also see a 750MHz Mobile Celeron, followed by an 800MHz part in May, and 850MHz and 900MHz chips in Q3 and beyond.
Intel plant discharges excess emissions By Tony Smith January 31, 2001 The Register	Intel pumped over a third of a ton of chemicals into the air around its Rio Rancho chip foundry during the last three months or so, the company's official air pollution readings, filed with the New Mexico government, reveal. The emissions were made during 12 incidents involving the shutting down of the plant's air pollution control equipment for over 183 hours in total, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
January 30, 2001
New PC benchmark finds Pentium 4 wanting By Rick Merritt January 26, 2001 EE Times	A PC benchmark program that claims to measure system performance more realistically than today's other tests has taken Intel Corp.'s Pentium 4 processor to task. Among other things, Benchmark Studio 1.0 has indicated that Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s Athlon processor significantly outperforms the Pentium 4 and that PCs with two relatively slow Pentium IIIs far surpass desktops with a single 1.5-GHz Pentium 4.
Does AMD Need Transmeta? By Maureen Tkacik January 25, 2001 CNBC	Five years ago this month, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. paid through the nose to acquire NexGen, a plucky but profitless little microprocessor design house that had been a hot initial public offering just months before. This year, the technology community is abuzz over whether the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chip maker might do it again, this time with Transmeta Corp. the stealthy but self-promotional 364-employee designer of low-power microprocessors for notebook computers. It is a stretch. AMD, which saw its best earnings in history last year, is nowhere near as visibly desperate as it was when it put up $840 million in stock for tiny NexGen in 1995. Then, the microprocessor market's smaller players were under pressure to come up with a chip that could compete with Intel Corp.'s new, high-performance Pentium line.
Transmeta chips being deployed to cut power costs By George A. Chidi January 25, 2001 Infoworld.com	California's electricity crisis might be a pain in the neck for most Silicon Valley companies, but it is a bit of fortuitous timing for low-power microchip maker Transmeta. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company plans to aggressively push its Crusoe microprocessors in the server market, hoping businesses will look to the low-wattage chip to save space and power. Companies with banks of servers are beginning to make cost calculations against a new standard -- processing power per watt, per square foot, said Mark Adams, a sales director at Transmeta.
Via plans low-cost 1-GHz PC processor January 27, 2001 Semiconductor Business News	Via Technologies Inc. will shortly announced a new x86-based microprocessor line for the low-cost PC market, with plans to develop a 1-GHz chip by early-2002, said Eric Chang, director of product marketing for Taiwan-based chip company. In an interview at the Platform Conference here this week, Chang said Via will roll out its code-named Samuel II processor in the first quarter of 2001. Samuel II is a 750- to 850-MHz chip geared for low-cost PCs, he said.
Intel's chipset deal with ATI seen as shrewd move By Jack Robertson January 28, 2001 Electronic Buyers' News	San Jose--Industry observers are hailing Intel Corp.'s decision to award its first Pentium 4 bus license to ATI Technologies Inc. as a savvy move that lets the company satisfy regulatory issues while keeping the lion's share of control over its newest chip architecture. Had it licensed the technology to a direct rival, Intel could have ended up ceding market share in the core-logic sector, where it's already facing strong competition. By licensing Toronto-based graphics-IC maker ATI, which is not known as a producer of core-logic PC chipsets, the likelihood of a competing product coming to market in the near future is slim, according to analysts.
Portable PC growth leaves desktops standing still By Joe Wilcox January 29, 2001 C/Net	The desktop PC may be headed for the geriatric ward, but svelte and brawny notebooks are ready to take its place as the most significant computer product. Market data for December and the fourth quarter of 2000 paint a dismal future for PCs--with flat rather than more typical double-digit sales growth--but notebooks show surprising resilience. In fact, after years of being stalled at about 20 percent of the overall PC market, notebooks are widening their share at the expense of desktop systems.
AMD To Buy Back $300M Of Stock January 29, 2001 Electronic News	Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) today said its board of directors has authorized a stock repurchase of up to $300 million over an unspecified period of time. AMD said its stock appears to be undervalued in the market and represents a sound investment at recent trading prices. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD’s shares were trading at $23, up nearly 8 percent in early trading but still behind the company’s 52-week high of $48.50.
The Register Files
The Benchmark's Bunk - BAPCo a 'Front' for Intel January 29, 2001 The Register	The two most widely used industry CPU benchmarks are effectively bunk, as they are under Intel's thumb, a rival maker claims. Speaking at last week's Platform Conference held in San Jose, Randall Kennedy, the Director of Research for Competitive Systems Analysis, stated that BAPCo, the organization responsible for the most popular application level benchmark, SysMark 2000, was simply a "front" for the Satan Clara chip maker.
Rambus unfazed by Intel DDR plan By Tony Smith January 26, 2001 The Register	Rambus expects Intel to release a DDR SDRAM chipset for the Pentium 4, and it's none too bothered by the fact. That's certainly the tone of comments made by Rambus' VP for worldwide marketing, Avo Kanadjian, interviewed over at EBN. Kanadjian claims he "isn't worried" about Chipzilla's DDR plans. As an example of his lack of concern, Kanadjian says he doesn't think Intel will get a DDR chipset for P4 out before 2002. Clearly, he's seen the same roadmap that we have.
Rambus to demo abtruse memory tech By Tony Smith January 29, 2001 The Register	Rambus staffers will show off some new technology tomorrow at the DesignCon 2001 show. Much of what the memory company will be demonstrating turns out to be highly technical stuff, of more interest to the electronics engineer than the PC user. However, Rambus will give demos of its quad-speed signalling technology, QRSL, which "combines the patented double data rate (DDR) technology along with multi-level signalling to transfer four bits per clock cycle in order to achieve... signalling rates of 1.6Gbps, yielding 12.8GBps from a 64-bit bus", as the company puts it. QRSL operates with a clock speed of 400MHz.

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