 |  |
 | |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|  |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Microprocessor
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top Stories for May 3, 2001 (details below) | |
| C/Net | Intel to keep hiring overseas despite 5000 job cuts in US |
| Yahoo Finance | Transmeta near deal with Japanese notebook maker |
| C/Net | Rambus royalties higher than expected |
| Semiconductor Business News | Intel and Via still in talks over Pentium 4 chip set technology |
|
Truths...from the rumor mill |
|
| The Inquirer | 1.7GHz Intel Pentium 4s suffer shortages |
| The Inquirer | AMD to use UMC to fab? |
| The Register | VIA C3 roadmap extended to 1.2GHz+ |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of April 29, 2001 |
Older News |
| May 3, 2001 | |
Intel to keep hiring overseas despite 5000 job cuts in USBy Reuters May 2, 2001 |
Intel said Wednesday it would continue to hire people at its units outside the United States, despite 5,000 job cuts announced earlier this year as a result of a slowing economy.
The hiring and fresh investment would help the world leader in computer chips develop technologies and uses for its products that would offer strong business potential when the economy picks up, said Vice President Pat Gelsinger. |
Transmeta near deal with Japanese notebook makerBy Reuters May 2, 2001 |
Transmeta Corp. (NasdaqNM:TMTA - news), the upstart chip maker whose low power processors are challenging those from industry leader Intel Corp.(NasdaqNM:INTC - news) , will soon announce a deal with a
Japanese notebook computer maker that could give Transmeta an important entree into the U.S. market, company executives said on Wednesday.
While the company has not disclosed which computer maker is involved, Toshiba Corp , the world's largest notebook maker, is seen as a top contender, analysts said. |
Rambus royalties higher than expectedBy Michael Kanellos May 2, 2001 |
Rambus executives disclosed the royalty rates it is seeking from memory manufacturers, and the numbers are higher than expected.
Testifying on Wednesday in the company's patent infringement trial against German chipmaker Infineon Technologies, Rambus executives disclosed that the company charges memory chipmakers a 3.5 percent royalty on the manufacture of DDR DRAM, a high-speed memory design that competes with chips based on Rambus' RDRAM, according to reports on Electronic Buyer's News. |
Intel and Via still in talks over Pentium 4 chip set technologyMay 2, 2001 |
Taiwan's Via Technologies Inc. is still in discussions with Intel Corp. to obtain a license for its Pentium 4-compatible chip set technology, sources said.
Via has a Pentium 4-based chip set waiting in the wings, but the Taiwan company cannot legally sell the product without a license from Intel. The product from Via reportedly supports both SDRAM and double-data-rate (DDR) SDRAM memory. |
Truths...from the rumor mill |
|
1.7GHz Intel Pentium 4s suffer shortagesBy Mike Magee May 2, 2001 |
DEALERS TRYING TO BUY the new 1.7GHz Pentium 4 microprocessors have been told they will have to wait at least four weeks for supplies in any quantity.
Intel denies there is any shortage, it said late today. Intel introduced the chip at a price of $352 only 10 days ago, to a fanfare of price cutting trumpeting all over the newspapers and Web. |
AMD to use UMC to fab?By Mike Magee May 2, 2001 |
THANKS TO AMD Zone for noticing a Cnet Investor story, itself based on a Ctech story (cough) saying the firm will use Taiwanese foundry UMC to fab additional CPUs.
But we have reason to believe that the story may still not have a great deal of substance to it. Our sources in Taiwan, who prefer to remain anonymous on this occasion, told The Inquirer: "UMC said nothing of the kind and my information is that Dresden is only 50 per cent ramped so far." Apparently one swallow nearly made a swig at an investor's conference held in Taipei, Monday. |
VIA C3 roadmap extended to 1.2GHz+By Tony Smith May 2, 2001 |
VIA has updated its processor roadmap to confirm the arrival of the successor to Ezra, itself the follow-up to the current C3 - aka Samuel II.
The new chip will take the C3 beyond 1GHz by debuting at 1.2GHz. The early details of Ezra suggested that it would be the chip to take the C3 line to speeds of over 1GHz. Ezra is due to ship next quarter at 850MHz, rising quickly to 950MHz and 1GHz. Ezra will contain 128KB of L1 cache and 64KB of on-die L2 cache. It will be fabbed at 0.13 micron. |
| May 2, 2001 | |
Court Ruling Sinks Rambus’ StockBy Steven Fyffe May 1, 2001 |
Rambus Inc.’s stock dropped to a 52-week low of $15.20 during trading today on news that a federal judge had thrown out all but three of its 57 patent-infringement claims against Infineon Technologies AG in a Richmond, Virginia trial.
The stock rebounded somewhat to $15.70 at the close of the market today. In a ruling from the bench Monday, U.S. District Judge Robert Payne dismissed a separate claim of willful infringement against Infineon (nyse: IFX) and asked both sides to submit briefs on Infineon’s request to throw out the remaining claims, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper. |
Judge whittles down Rambus claimsBy Reuters May 1, 2001 |
A federal judge has tossed out all but three claims in a patent infringement case brought by Rambus, which designs and licenses computer memory, against German semiconductor maker Infineon Technologies.
U.S. District Judge Robert Payne, who is presiding over the ongoing jury trial here, also will consider a motion by Infineon to throw out all the remaining claims after receiving legal briefs from the litigants, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Tuesday. |
Pentium 4 SaleBy Jayant Mathew April 30, 2001 |
Intel Corp. has always commanded a premium for new processors, but not anymore.
In a bid to increase sales for its flagship processor, Intel (nasdaq: INTC) is now resorting to some unorthodox pricing strategies. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company hopes these aggressive price cuts will stimulate demand for the Pentium 4 and make systems powered by the chip more affordable to mainstream computing. The timing of Intel's strategy is not good; the slowing economy is not boosting PC sales and, more importantly, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is no longer a bit player and has legitimate product offerings in all segments. And heavy discounting by Intel could lead to a nasty price war. |
Via profits at Intel's expenseBy Bloomberg News April 30, 2001 |
Via Technologies, the world's second-largest chipset maker, said Monday its quarterly profit more than doubled, though it's unlikely to repeat that performance in the current quarter because of slowing demand.
Net income for the quarter that ended March 31 rose to $70 million (2.3 billion Taiwan dollars) from $28.6 million in the same period last year. That beat an average forecast of $60.3 million in profit, according to a Bloomberg survey of four analysts. |
Via's new processor roadmap calls for 1.2-GHz chipMay 1, 2001 |
Via Technologies Inc. here today disclosed its new microprocessor roadmap, including plans to develop an x86-based product with speeds up to 1.2-GHz.
The company plans to announce a 1.2-GHz processor by year's end, with shipments slated for late 2001 or early 2002, said Dan Havey, director of U.S. marketing for Via, based in Taipei, Taiwan. The processor is not targeted for the high-end PC market, Havey said. For some time, Via has geared these chips for the low-end or value PC market, Havey said. |
Truths...from the rumor mill |
|
Rambus case turns into bloody shamblesBy Mike Magee May 1, 2001 |
CRUSTY US DISTRICT COURT judge Robert Payne, yesterday severely limited Rambus' claims of patent infringement against Infineon, effectively liquidising the original 57 allegations down into three.
But, as we reported here Saturday, although some expected the entire trial to close in disarray yesterday, instead the case will continue although Payne may decide this Thursday whether it should come to a grinding halt. |
Rambus cornered by Judge, InfineonBy Tony Smith April 30, 2001 |
Rambus may call it quits this after it emerged that its legal action against Infineon appears to have been limited to such a degree that the memory developer effectively has no room to
manoeuvre.
Rambus' lawyers told the trial judge, Robert E Payne, that his Markman ruling, which governs the extent to which a patent may be said to have been infringed, would not allow them grounds to claim patent infringement. |
Ramboholics go nuts in MayBy Mike Magee May 1, 2001 |
SOMEONE ADVISED US that we should go over to the Yahoo Message Boards and check out the Ramboholics and their doings. We must confess that we worried about the state of our health but eventually curiousity got the better of us and we put our foot into the water.
For some reason, the subject of Rambus (ticker RMBS) excites share holders like few other technical stocks. After Judge Dread adminstered Payne to the Rambus side of the legal argument, we considered we should be brave and pile in there. |
Homer Simpson hates Pentium 4By Mike Magee May 1, 2001 |
FANTASTICALLY FUNNY news over at JC's News where the lad noticed Homer Simpson moaning about Craig Barrett's Blue Men. Go there for more and also check out the marginally less funny info about a new Coppermink stepping. You can see Intel's pic of the Ranch Dude dancing with the Blue Meanies here. Presumably, although Homer had a Pentium III implanted in his brain courtesy of La Intella, his sense of humour is not optimised for Screaming Sindie II.
Times are tough in the old hardware world. HardOCP has mixed news about MaxPC. |
P4 benchmarks show 90% boostBy Mike Magee May 1, 2001 |
A REPORT ON A GERMAN WIRE shows that new Nvidia drivers coupled with Pentium 4 CPUs, and new V12.0 drivers from Nvidia has resulted in improved business app performance of 90 per cent, a Web site is reporting.
According to the account, which you can find here, ZD Net in Germany posted the results, which will certainly cause some bats to fly out of their roosts and timbers to shiver. |
.13 micron plans not delayedBy Mike Magee April 30, 2001 |
RESPONDING TO AN EARLIER Inquirer story, Intel said that Silicon Valley Group statements that .13 micron technology might be late because of delays in shipping argon fluoride scanners would not affect its plans.
A representative said today: "Intel is on target to deliver .13 micron technology in the third and fourth quarters [of this year]." Although Intel will not be drawn, we know there will be .13 Pentium IIIs in Q3 and P4's at .13 micron in Q4. In fact, we've heard the .13 micron Pentium IIIs are already rolling off the conveyor belts. |
ATI-Intel deal dumbs things downBy Mike Magee April 29, 2001 |
WITH ALL the excitement about AMD and Nvidia's SNAP, a reader sends us a letter to remind us of the obverse of that coin - the deal between ATI and Intel.
As Via Hardware righty remarks, put the letters AMD and Nvidia together with the word SNAP and everyone wants to read it. But, let's face it, who wants to read about putting the letters ATI together with Intel? Bung the first three words through the anagram server and you get a very rich mix of words, while put ATI together with Intel and it all seems to come out, well, a little flat. (See the anagram server) |
Intel's hidden notebook partnersBy Mike Magee May 1, 2001 |
THREE TAIWANESE manufacturers are the main beneficiaries of Intel's push to sell notebook white boxes, we can reveal.
The companies are Mitac, Asus and Clevo and this is how it works. Notebook manufacture is far harder than desktop manufacture and many of the branded machines that you may pay a fortune for in the high street are likely to be manufactured in Taiwan, or increasingly in Red China. |
| April 30, 2001 | |
Intel could face delay on its 0.13-micron processBy Jack Robertson April 27, 2001 |
Intel Corp.'s upcoming Pentium 4 Northwood processor and 1.26-GHz Tualatin Pentium III processor may be impacted by a three-to-four month delay in a crucial piece of processing equipment, according to industry sources.
Officials of SVG Lithography, Wilton, Conn., this week confirmed that the firm is delaying shipments up to four months on its Micrascan V 193-nm wavelength lithography system, which sources said is being used by Intel Corp. to make the 0.13-micron critical layers on its next-generation processors. |
AMD delays Hammer releaseBy John G. Spooner April 27, 2001 |
Advanced Micro Devices has pushed back the introduction of a pair of new processor cores by as much as six months.
The chipmaker had planned to ship the first of its next-generation "Hammer" family of processor cores in the first half of 2002. "Clawhammer," the first Hammer core, was scheduled for the first quarter of 2002. Sledgehammer, a more server oriented processor core, was scheduled for later in the first half of 2002. |
AMD touts size advantage of new chipBy John G. Spooner April 26, 2001 |
Good things come in small packages, Advanced Micro Devices executives told investors Thursday at the company's annual shareholders meeting.
AMD disclosed that the first of several forthcoming processors, code-named Clawhammer, will be only 105 millimeters square--about the same size as a current Athlon chip and half the size of Intel's current Pentium 4 chips. But it will deliver more than three times the clock speed of the first Athlon, and its small size will help AMD hold down capital expenditures. |
AMD rides off to the notebook races with PalominoBy Jack Robertson April 27, 2001 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. may have been a non-factor in the notebook computer race so far, but this quarter the company is finally going to bust out of the starting gate riding its Palomino notebook PC processor.
Sources with knowledge of the new chip claim it will have the industry's highest mobile processor clock rate and a 4.2Gbit/s memory speed, exceeding even the fastest desktop PC on the market today. Details of Palomino leaked to EBN describe a chip with a clock rate of 1.3 to 1.4GHz, supported by double-channel PC2100 memory modules with 4.2Gbit/s data rates. |
Intel to develop advanced compilers with Chinese organizationApril 26, 2001 |
In an effort to optimize its microprocessors for next-generation applications, Intel Corp. will team up with the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences here to develop advanced software compilers for R&D purposes.
The research is targeted to develop compilers that improve the performance of Intel's Itanium processor family, said Patrick P. Gelsinger, vice president and chief technology officer of the Intel Architecture Group. |
Truths...from the rumor mill |
|
Rambus-Infineon trial: lawyers laughing
|
THE JURY IS STILL IN on whether Infineon has breached Rambus patents on SDRAM and double data rate (DDR) technology, but the first week of the case is now concluded.
But the jury may not be in for very much longer, because Rambus lawyers have gone off to think about whether they still have a case over the weekend, as reported in this account here. (Someone alerted me to this account which is certainly easier to follow than the strange rumblings of Ramboholics on the bulletin boards). |
Intel accused of screwing small PC firms
|
SMALLER PC COMPANIES AND system integrators are being pushed into the shade because of recent and future price moves made by Intel.
That will force them into the hands of competitors, they warn, or have to buy on the so-called "grey market" as competition heats up. Paradoxically, the "grey market" consists of CPUs large PC firms have often bought and wish to dump through irregular routes to market. |
RDRAM-to-DDR P4 transition? No problemo - IntelBy Tony Smith April 25, 2001 |
Intel does not expect the transition from Socket 423 Pentium 4 processors to the Socket 478 version of the chip to cause mobo makers and PC vendors any implementation problems, the company promised on Monday.
Due to be announced and - we expect - ship sometime next quarter, the Socket 478 P4 is the version of the chip that will be used in Brookdale, Intel's PC-133 and, ultimately, DDR chipset. It will also be used with DDR chipsets from SIS, Acer Labs and VIA. |
AMD-Nvidia axis serious threat to IntelBy Mike Magee April 26, 2001 |
THE COMBINATION OF AMD and Nvidia technology, partly forced on the former because of its weakness in the chipset business, is likely to pose a serious threat to both Intel and Via's long term businesses.
As exclusively reported here yesterday, Nvidia and AMD have worked together for some now on the SNAP (strategic Nvidia AMD partnership) and already, sources told The Inquirer exclusively, have chipsets which are delivering higher performance than anything around at present. |
ATI-Intel deal dumbs things down
|
WITH ALL the excitement about AMD and Nvidia's SNAP, a reader sends us a letter to remind us of the obverse of that coin - the deal between ATI and Intel.
As Via Hardware righty remarks, put the letters AMD and Nvidia together with the word SNAP and everyone wants to read it. But, let's face it, who wants to read about putting the letters ATI together with Intel? Bung the first three words through the anagram server and you get a very rich mix of words, while put ATI together with Intel and it all seems to come out, well, a little flat. (See the anagram server) |
Pentium 4 to scale to 10GHzBy Mike Magee April 26, 2001 |
INTEL'S MR. PAUL OTELLINI said in an analysts meeting in New York today that the current Pentium 4 architecture is capable of scaling to 10GHz. We are not sure when this will happen, but it does demonstrate that the Willamette design is very scaleable.
The meeting, which lasted for hours, pulled in practically every senior Intel executive including CEO Craig Barrett, and Andy Grove, as well as Ron Smith and a bevy of other luminaries, apart from Pat Gelsinger. |
AMD's Hammer develops ItaniumitisBy a staff writer (cough) April 26, 2001 |
BECAUSE IT'S A LITTLE LATE over here in Blighty, there's little more we can do right here and now than to point to three hardware sites which have posted information about changes to AMD plans.
First off, light over to Ace's , where there is a reproduction of changes to the AMD roadmap and which show some projects have been put on hold, including Hammer. If not on ice, then on the cooler. [It was the Itanic that struck ice, Mike. Don't mix your metaphors. Ed.]. Oh, and what's this about Mike liking to spice things up a bit Johan? |
| Advertisement |