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| Top Stories for February 23, 2001 (details below) | |
| C/Net | "McKinley" set to star at Intel conference |
| San Jose Mercury News | Intel tightens its belt, hoping to save 'hundreds of millions' |
| EE Times | AMD gets aggressive in mobile space with SOI plans |
| C/Net | IBM, Soros invest in server start-up RLX |
|
The Register Files |
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| The Register | WinXP to include support for Transmeta Crusoe chips |
| The Register | Intel settles FIC patent suit |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of February 18, 2001 |
Older News |
| February 23, 2001 | |
"McKinley" set to star at Intel conferenceBy Michael Kanellos February 22, 2001 |
Intel has completed the design of its "McKinley" processor for servers, according to sources--a
manufacturing milestone that will likely be one of the highlights of the Intel Developer Forum next week.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker has "taped out," or completed, the blueprint on McKinley, a code name for a 64-bit processor for high-end servers, according to sources close to the company. Intel has also managed to run some software on the existing samples. |
Intel tightens its belt, hoping to save 'hundreds of millions'By Therese Poletti January 21, 2001 |
As the U.S. economy continues to stagnate, Intel, the world's largest chip maker, joined the growing ranks of Silicon Valley companies cutting expenses with deferred pay raises and curtailed hiring, hoping to save ``hundreds of millions of dollars'' this year.
The Santa Clara-based company said Tuesday that it is moving to cut costs so that it will not have to touch its long-term programs, such as its plans to spend a hefty $7.5 billion for new plants with more advanced chip-making equipment this year. |
AMD gets aggressive in mobile space with SOI plansBy Jerry Ascierto February 22, 2001 |
The war in low-power is heating up. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) will make an aggressive move toward new process technologies such as silicon on insulator
(SOI) and packaging options over the course of this year as it seeks to pierce the thin and light segment of the notebook market and break its GHz barrier.
As thermal issues become an increasingly important focus of notebook OEMs, and with Intel's mobile Pentium III and Celeron poised to gain even more market share, AMD executives said that SOI technology, thinner packaging designs and the company's PowerNow! technology will usher the high-end Athlon processor into previously untapped segments of the notebook market. |
IBM, Soros invest in server start-up RLXBy Michael Kanellos February 21, 2001 |
RLX Technologies, which designs small, energy-efficient servers, has received $40 million in second-round financing from IBM and Soros Private Equity Partners.
The Woodlands, Texas-based company hopes to capitalize on one of the growing problems in the computing world: the amount of heat produced by servers. Web hosting companies and e-commerce sites install hundreds of servers to ensure that the Web sites they manage stay afloat. The increased server population, however, is forcing these companies to invest heavily in cooling systems and additional floor space so that heat generated by all these electricity-gobbling machines can dissipate before doing damage. |
The Register Files |
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WinXP to include support for Transmeta Crusoe chipsBy John Lettice February 20, 2001 |
Support for Transmeta CPUs is quietly under development as part of Microsoft's next generation WinXP OS. Beta testers staring vacantly at the blue install screen while filenames flash by claim to have been jolted awake by the evocatively-named
crusoe.dll.
Microsoft's developers have helpfully tagged the file as a "processor device driver," so indeed it is that Crusoe that's being catered for. Presumably Microsoft reckons that going the extra mile in WinXP to support Crusoe's features specifically will come in handy for something when the OS actually ships. |
Intel settles FIC patent suitBy Tony Smith February 22, 2001 |
Intel and Taiwanese mobo maker First International Computer have settled their long-running patent clash, the two companies tersely announced yesterday.
No settlement terms were revealed - the joint press statement simply said the pair had resolved their dispute, settled up their remaining differences and entered into a licensing agreement "covering certain patents". |
| February 21, 2001 | |
Intel delays raises, curbs hiringBy Michael Kanellos February 20, 2001 |
Intel will delay employee raises, curb hiring, and cut back on expenses in an effort to weather the downturn in the U.S. economy.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker told employees in a memo Tuesday that the company has imposed a wide variety of cost-control measures designed to reduce operating expenses by hundreds of millions of dollars. The company is not reducing capital spending or its research and development budget, but it is cutting costs nearly everywhere else. |
Rebel.com releases first Transmeta-based serverBy Michael Kanellos February 20, 2001 |
Rebel.com released on Tuesday the first server based on a Transmeta chip. Other manufacturers are expected to follow in the coming months.
The Ottawa-based start-up hopes to capitalize on a trend toward server size-reduction with its NetWinder 3100. Weighing about 2 pounds, the server is designed to fit into dense racks designed to hold several servers at once. |
Transmeta says chip gets foothold in servers and mobile PCsBy Reuters February 20, 2001 |
Chipmaker Transmeta Corp says its vaunted Crusoe chip, which gives laptops longer battery by cutting power consumption, has a new foothold for growth with a slew of portable PCs just launched in Japan and servers soon due to debut in North America.
Crusoe has received a boost in its key Japan market for portable computers in recent weeks as three Japanese companies unveiled new PCs using the chip. |
Via to begin shipping MPUs into ChinaBy Faith Hung February 20, 2001 |
Via Technologies Inc. will soon ship processors to some of China's top OEMs, opening the way for the company to enter the largest PC market in Asia.
The Taipei-based company said that it would deliver more than 10,000 Samuel processors per month starting this month on a trial basis to the Legend Group and Founder. The volume is expected to increase in the future. |
Via looks to conquer new worldsBy Jack Robertson and Faith Hung February 20, 2001 |
With its stake planted in the PC sector, Via Technologies Inc. is looking to expand its market share and scope.
The Taiwan-based fabless design company is Intel Corp.'s biggest chipset rival, with approximately 45% of the world chipset market. With 2000 revenue of roughly $1 billion, Via has ambitious plans to grow to $1.4 billion this year and secure 50% of the chipset market and 10% of the microprocessor market. |
The Register Files |
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Transmeta powers 'pearly pink' PC for pussyBy Tony Smith February 20, 2001 |
Transmeta has made its coolest design win yet: its Crusoe 5600 chip will power a notebook styled on Japan's most famous pussy.
Yes, cute kids cartoon craze, Hello Kitty, will soon have her own "pearly pink" coloured sub-notebook PC, according to the button-eyed kitten's creator, Sanrio. To be fair, it's note a Transmeta design win per se - the Hello Kitty notebook is a recased Casio Cassiopeia Fiva MPC-205, which just happens to be based on the TM5600. |
| February 20, 2001 | |
Documents Reveal Rambus’ Secret Scheme; New Evidence Re-Ignites JEDEC DebateBy Steven Fyffe February 16, 2001 |
Documents uncovered in the ongoing legal battle between Rambus Inc. and several DRAM makers could bolster claims that Rambus deliberately broke the rules of the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council
(JEDEC) as part of a secret plan to take over the global DRAM intellectual property business.
The documents include internal memos and e-mails, Rambus’ 1992 business plan and handwritten notes. Hyundai’s legal team successfully had the documents’ confidential status removed, but they remained sealed until Electronic News filed a motion with the U.S. District Court of San Jose to release the documents. A judge did so today. |
Acer Labs to build Pentium 4 chipsetsBy Michael Kanellos February 16, 2001 |
Acer Labs Inc. has signed a license to manufacture Pentium 4 chipsets, as Intel cranks up efforts to popularize its latest processor.
With the deal, Taiwan's ALI becomes the second company after ATI Technologies to officially announce a Pentium 4 licensing deal. The licensing deals are geared toward ensuring that PC makers can obtain an adequate and inexpensive supply of components for Pentium 4 computers, which should soon start pushing deeper into the market. |
Acer Labs licensed to make Pentium 4 chip setsBy Mike Clendenin February 16, 2001 |
Intel Corp. has granted Acer Inc. a license to produce Pentium 4 chip sets, which should appear on the market in the third quarter.
In an interview with EE Times, Acer Labs president Chin Wu said, "It is our own choice as to what we want to do" regarding the Pentium 4 chip set's memory support, and he declined to say whether Intel pushed for the chip set to support Direct Rambus DRAM rather than double-data-rate (DDR) SDRAM. Wu would not talk about the details of the licensing agreement, but said, "there were fewer restrictions than in the past.." |
AMD bets big on HyperTransport architectureBy Ken Popovich February 15, 2001 |
Its name may sound like something from a "Star Wars" movie, but HyperTransport technology could soon find its way to a PC or server near you.
Developed by Advanced Micro Devices Inc., HyperTransport is a new architecture designed to dramatically boost the transfer of information inside PCs as well as networking and communications devices. The technology, which will begin appearing in systems late in the year, will enable manufacturers to integrate more processors into their systems by eliminating data-transfer bottlenecks between components. |
Via seeks to raise up to $625M for overseas investmentsBy Reuters February 15, 2001 |
Via Technologies said on Friday it planned to issue up to 60 million shares in the form of American Depositary Receipts
(ADRs) in the first half to raise funds for overseas investment.
A Via spokesman said the issue could raise up to about T$20 billion (US$625 million) based on the share's Thursday closing price of T$334. "We plan to launch the ADR issue in March if the market condition then is good, but in general we hope to complete the issue in the first half," the spokesman told Reuters. |
The Register Files |
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VIA preps P4 chipset (without Intel say-so)By Drew Cullen February 19, 2001 |
VIA Technologies is preparing to showcase P4 chipsets at
CeBIT, Europe's biggest computer trade show, next month, according to Bloomberg. But the company doesn't have an Intel licence yet to actually build P4 chipsets.
The Taiwanese firm reckons that it does not need Intel's authorisation to build and sell P4 chipsets - as it acquired all the necessary paperwork through last year's takeover of S3. Or so it claims. |
Intel poisoning Japan with meltable chipsBy Kieren McCarthy February 19, 2001 |
Japanese PC manufacturers are being held back by Intel in their bid to remove lead in computer soldering, AsiaBizTech reports.
In the same way that oil companies moved rapidly to lead-free petrol, PC manufacturers wish to cut out the contaminating element by moving to non-lead alternatives. However, the preferred replacement - Tin-Silver solder - requires components to withstand a temperature of 220ºC, some 40ºC higher than current lead-based solders. Intel doesn't produce parts that can withstand this higher temperature and it isn't too keen on changing either, the manufacturers say. |
MS and Sledgehammer: Whistler SDK reveals allBy Tony Smith February 19, 2001 |
Further evidence that Microsoft intends to support AMD's Sledgehammer chip comes from the company's own upcoming operating system revision, Whistler, aka Windows XP.
Specifically, the clue is to be found in Whistler's SDK (Software Development Kit) and its DDK (Driver Development Kit), which reference the upcoming 64-bit processor in a compiler directive. |
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