 |  |
 | |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Microprocessor
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top Stories for March 9, 2001 (details below) | |
| C/Net | Intel to cut 5,000 jobs, warns on revenue |
| C/Net | Intel advances in next-generation chipmaking |
| C/Net | Intel signs up another Pentium 4 chipset maker |
|
The Register Files |
|
| The Register | AMD, Intel fight wars using memory chips |
| The Register | SiS licenses IBM 'design and process' patents |
| The Register | VIA subsidises DDR to boost uptake |
| The Register | Hot McKinley pics |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of March 4, 2001 |
Older News |
| March 9, 2001 | |
Intel to cut 5,000 jobs, warns on revenueBy Michael Kanellos and Ian Fried March 8, 2001 |
Intel slashed its earnings forecast again Thursday and announced it would cut 5,000 jobs--about 6 percent of its work force--over the next nine months.
The chipmaker warned it now expects revenue for its fiscal first quarter to be around $6.5 billion, approximately 25 percent below fourth-quarter revenue of $8.7 billion. That would make it Intel's slowest quarter since late 1997. |
Intel advances in next-generation chipmakingBy John G. Spooner March 8, 2001 |
Intel passed another milestone this week in the development of a key technology for creating processors that run more than five times faster than current chips.
The chipmaker announced Thursday that it has delivered the first standard-format photomasks for use with Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. The technology is designed to allow chipmakers to embed ever smaller features on silicon, beginning with chips at the 70-nanometer level. Current processors are manufactured on a 180 nanometer micron process. Smaller features mean more transistors can be squeezed onto smaller pieces of silicon, making for greater computing power. |
Intel signs up another Pentium 4 chipset makerBy Bloomberg News March 8, 2001 |
Silicon Integrated Systems, Taiwan's second-largest chipset maker, said it signed a licensing agreement with Intel to make chipsets compatible with the Pentium 4 processor.
Silicon Integrated plans to start trial production of the chipset in the third quarter and begin mass production in September, said Ellie Yin, international marketing manager at Silicon Integrated. |
The Register Files |
|
AMD, Intel fight wars using memory chipsBy Mike Magee March 8, 2001 |
Yes, we know that AMD will use Rambus memory "if the market demands it" and we know that Intel will use DDR (double date rate) memory if "the market demands it".
But, behind the scenes, these two firms have little intention of getting out of their trenches and meeting in no-man's land for a little festive footer like the Germans and the Brits in World War One. And when they say "if the market demands it" they both mean "if we're forced to". |
SiS licenses IBM 'design and process' patentsBy Tony Smith March 7, 2001 |
Taiwan's Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) tersely announced it has shaken hands with IBM on a "comprehensive" patent cross-licensing deal.
It didn't say much about what technology the deal covers, beyond noting that includes "design and process-related patents". That suggests that SiS is getting hold of IBM's copper interconnect and silicon-on-insulator technology. It might even include certain PowerPC designs, we would speculate. |
VIA subsidises DDR to boost uptakeBy Tony Smith March 6, 2001 |
VIA is taking a leaf out of Intel's book and - to all intents and purposes - bundling its preferred high-performance memory with its chipsets.
So, what Intel does with Rambus RDRAM, VIA does with DDR. Chipzilla is providing PC OEMs with low-cost - to them, at any rate - RDRAM modules, the idea being that this will ensure they don't limit the availability of Pentium 4-based system because they find RDRAM modules hard to come by. |
Hot McKinley picsBy Robert Blincoe March 2, 2001 |
Prepare to have your glasses steamed up.
The Japanese site PC Watch has posted a pic of Intel's McKinley. At the Intel Developer Forum in San Jose this week CEO Craig Barrett showed McKinley live for the first time, running on prototype 64bit Whistler, Linux IA-64 and HP-UX. |
| March 5, 2001 | |
Intel PC I/O Spec Could Start New RaceBy Mark Hachman March 1, 2001 |
Intel Corp. plans to work with the IT industry to develop a next-generation I/O architecture, but may spark another I/O struggle in the process.
In a keynote address at the Intel Developer Forum Thursday, Louis Burns, general manager of Intel's Desktop Platforms Group, promised that the company would help develop a new I/O standard for the PC by this fall. |
Intel Invests In RDRAM CapacityBy Steven Fyffe March 2, 2001 |
Intel Corp. wants more Direct Rambus (DRAM), and it is willing to pay extra for it. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has accepted an undisclosed sum from Intel in return for a promise to boost RDRAM output, the Korea-based company revealed at the Intel Developer Forum this week.
Samsung will start cranking out 10 million RDRAM units a month immediately, and has pledged to increase that figure to 20 million a per month in the second half of this year. Samsung plans to use Intel’s money to buy high-speed RDRAM testers. |
Intel has spotty record enticing DRAM makers to build RambusBy Jack Robertson March 2, 2001 |
Desperate to get enough Direct Rambus DRAMs into the market to support its new Pentium 4 processor, Intel Corp. this week announced it has put money into Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. for the second time to boost RDRAM output and ensure a steady supply of parts.
Samsung appears to be the only taker of Intel's Rambus-related investment offers. Both Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd. and Elpida Memory Inc. said they have turned down Intel investment offers. |
Craig Barrett On Challenges On Intel's HorizonBy Edward F. Moltzen March 2, 2001 |
Intel Corp. CEO Craig Barrett is facing dead-on what could be a tough transition year for the $35 billion chip giant.
PC vendors and solution providers are less than enthusiastic about the progress of the Pentium 4 ramp-up. The cost and performance of Intel's proprietary 850 chipset, which currently ships with the P4, are big stumbling blocks, they say. |
The Register Files |
|
Intergraph weighs up how much it wants for each Pentium soldBy Linda Harrison March 2, 2001 |
Intergraph is to drag Intel to court again next week, just a few days after its patent infringement win over the chip giant.
On Monday, March 5, it will make its arguments to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuits in Washington regarding its antitrust case against Intel. Intergraph alleges Intel used its monopoly power to coerce the Alabama company into handing over patents rights. The anti-trust case was thrown out of court in March last year. |
Court rules for Intergraph in Intel patent disputeBy Drew Cullen March 1, 2001 |
Intergraph has actually won a court ruling in its long-festering patent dispute with Intel.
Today, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuits ruled that Intel had no rights to use Clipper Technology patented by Intergraph. Intel's argument that use was protected by cross-licensing agreements were described as "strained". In a press statement , James Taylor,Intergraph CEO, said: "We are energised by the unanimous decision of the Appeals Court that Intel has no cross license defence." |
Intel plots post-PCI, 3G PC standardBy Tony Smith March 1, 2001 |
Intel Developer Forum, San Jose So, farewell then, PCI... So, farewell then, AGP... Intel is already working on your successor, a unified PC sub-system designed to provide connectivity out into the next decade of the 21st Century.
As yet, this third-generation technology has no name - at least, not one that Louis Burns, Intel's desktop products chief was willing to reveal at its announcement - but Chipzilla is already promising a preliminary spec. next autumn. |
| Advertisement |