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Microprocessor
Headline News

Top Stories for May 25, 2001 (details below)
CNN/Fn AMD allies with Transmeta
Chipmakers will cooperate on next-generation computing architecture
C/Net Transmeta to license AMD technology
C/Net Intel asks workers to take unpaid leave
EBN Italian court finds Micron did not infringe Rambus patents
EBN AMD claims notebook design wins for microprocessors
C/Net Via to unveil new processor
Truths...from the rumor mill
The Inquirer Senior Intel dude moonlights at AMD
The Inquirer Intel alleged to violate first amendment
Hamidi gets civil liberties support
The Inquirer Intel calls for work without pay
The Inquirer Waste the real secret of AMD's success
The Inquirer Intel to increase Rambus rebate
The Inquirer Intel's DDR development 'scrapped'
The Inquirer How low can the memory Dramurai go?
The Register DDR chipset prices slump
The Inquirer AMD, Intel and DDR
The Inquirer Nvidia and Via heading for legal tussle?
The Inquirer SNAP's Crushbaby: details emerge
The Inquirer Who says Pentium 4 runs hot?
The Inquirer Intel's Tualatin server plans
MP, DP systems pushed back
The Inquirer Via concerned about Intel i830
The Inquirer "Hammer of Intel" space explained
The Register Intel Itanium to launch next Tuesday - says Hewlett-Packard
The Inquirer Intel fires re-marking dealers
Execution, surprise visits

 

Microprocessor Headline News

Collected By Robert R. Collins

Week of May 20, 2001

Older News

May 25, 2001

AMD allies with Transmeta
Chipmakers will cooperate on next-generation computing architecture

By Richard Richtmyer

May 25, 2001
CNN/Fn

Advanced Micro Devices has forged a key alliance in its battle for dominance in the microprocessor market.

Transmeta, a Silicon Valley upstart that specializes in low-power microprocessors, has thrown its support behind technology AMD has developed as the framework for the next generation of computers.

Specifically, Transmeta has licensed AMD's "x86-64" microprocessor architecture and a complementary technology called "HyperTransport," which is used to improve the speed at which data can move between a system's microprocessor and peripheral chips.

Transmeta to license AMD technology

By John G. Spooner

May 24, 2001
C/Net

Transmeta will transplant some of AMD's processor technologies into future Crusoe chips.

The chipmakers--long rumored to be fostering a close relationship--will announce a licensing pact Friday that will allow Transmeta to use AMD's x86-64 and HyperTransport technologies in forthcoming chips.

HyperTransport will likely be the first technology put to use by Transmeta. The technology is designed to replace the PCI bus, which shuttles information between the processor and other parts of a computer system, with a faster data pipeline.

Intel asks workers to take unpaid leave

By Ian Fried and David Becker

May 23, 2001
C/Net

A slowdown in the once-blazing flash-memory business has prompted chip giant Intel to ask some workers to take two weeks of unpaid time off this summer.

Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said the offer is strictly voluntary and applies only to workers in select jobs at Intel's plant in Rio Rancho, N.M., near Albuquerque, which makes both traditional logic chips and flash memory, which is used in cell phones, digital cameras and MP3 players.

Italian court finds Micron did not infringe Rambus patents

By Jack Robertson

May 24, 2001
EBN

Rambus Inc.'s synchronous-interface patent infringement case against Micron Technology Inc. was dismissed Thursday by a judge in Monza, Italy, a Micron spokesman confirmed today.

An expert technical panel set up by the Italian court last week had upheld the validity of the Rambus patents, which the Los Altos, Calif., company claimed Micron had infringed. However, the judge Thursday overruled that finding and determined that Micron had not violated the patents.

AMD claims notebook design wins for microprocessors

May 23, 2001
EBN

AMD late Tuesday said that NEC, Sony Corp. and Fujitsu will sell new notebook PCs based on its Athlon 4 and mobile AMD Duron processors.

NEC plans to use the 1GHz mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor in its "LaVie G" series, AMD said. An 800MHz mobile AMD Duron processor will also be featured in the "LaVie G" series, as well as the "LaVie L" series. These consumer systems are expected to ship later this month, AMD said.

Via to unveil new processor

By Bloomberg News

May 23, 2001
C/Net

Via Technologies, which is trying to challenge Intel as a processor maker, said it will introduce a new CPU at a computer show in Taiwan next month.

In an invitation to a June 5 event at the Computex trade show here, Via said it will display a smaller, faster version of its C3, a processor for computers that cost $500 or less.

Without a new chip, analysts say, Taiwan's biggest chip designer will probably not sell the 5 million processors this year as previously expected. "Via's real hope is with the C3," said Joey Cheng, an analyst with Indosuez W.I. Carr Securities in Taipei. "Most of the units should be out by the second half."

Truths...from the rumor mill

Senior Intel dude moonlights at AMD

By Andrew Thomas

May 23, 2001
The Inquirer

ONE OF OUR favourite Intel veeps, 'Kicking' Pat Gelsinger has been known to be somewhat disparaging in the past of AMD's efforts in the chip arena.

So imagine then our surprise to discover that it looks very much as if KPG is moonlighting at the Imitator's new self-help website here.

Ask AMD is a new online technical support service, providing instant answers about AMD's processor products. It has a mascot - almost unbelievably called 'Chip' - who attempts to answer user queries. Is Chip in some way related to KPG? Judge for yourself from the two photographs below…

Intel alleged to violate first amendment
Hamidi gets civil liberties support

By Mike Magee

May 23, 2001
The Inquirer

WE'RE NOT QUITE SURE how we missed this first time round, but Ken Hamidi, he who runs Face Intel, got an extra boost from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) a week back.

The ACLU filed a "friend of the court brief" on Hamidi's behalf in a US court. This follows a decision by a previous court that Hamidi had spammed Intel and its employees with a number of email messages complaining about its work policies.

Intel calls for work without pay

By our US Correspondent

May 23, 2001
The Inquirer

Every weekday our intrepid US correspondent takes a sharp look at the news of the day - not necessarily technical nor business - as seen through other site's eyes.

Intel and Philips are feeling the pinch, according to this piece here, which says the semiconductor firms want people to take time off without pay. Intel wants Fab 11 folk to take two weeks unpaid holiday. Philips wants people to do much more than that. If they're not careful, these IT companies might cause the idea of trade unions to start again.

Waste the real secret of AMD's success

By our US Correspondent

May 24, 2001
The Inquirer

WE ALWAYS WONDERED just how AMD managed to pull off its successful turnabout over the last few years. And now we know, it's waste management.

That, at least, is the message that a Web site is purveying. Apparently, AMD quickly realised that the risks facing it weren't the ones you and I might suppose - you know La Intella, how much chip capacity it has, the volatile nature of its CEO or the technical abilities of the Palomino or its 760MP chipset.

Intel to increase Rambus rebate

By Mike Magee

May 23, 2001
The Inquirer

CHIP GIANT INTEL will cut prices on a selected range of its processors next week but, as we reported yesterday, its favourite platform for the Pentium 4 will always be Rambus and its RIMMs.

According to documents sent to its system integrator channel, Intel will increase the rebates on RIMMs when it makes its price changes on the 27th.

It is doing so through the Intel Channel Rebate (ICR), and these are the details:

Intel's DDR development 'scrapped'

By Andrew Thomas

May 23, 2001
The Inquirer

AS WE HINTED several weeks ago, here, all is not well in DDR land. Now hardware site OCWorkbench claims that Taiwanese mobo makers including Asus, Gigabyte and MSI are stopping work on DDR mobos.

The claim is that sales of DDR boards are poor and, combined with the plummeting prices of Pentium 4 processors, sales of Rambus/P4 systems are climbing rapidly while DDR is in the doldrums. With PC133 SDRAM mobos now mainstream, high end DDR boards are being squeezed out of the market, says OCW.

How low can the memory Dramurai go?

By Marco Fumagalli

May 23, 2001
The Inquirer

STRANGE THINGS are happening in the memory market in these days, with all of the manufacturers playing now playing "the last man standing game, after all their efforts to make memory prices rise in the last few months have failed to show any appreciable result.

The current situation sees 128Mb chips now under US$3.00 each, down from $3.50 last week. This means that a 128Mb DIMM module of a major brand will cost you around $23/$24, while the second tier brand modules are quoted at even lower prices of $20/$21 each.

DDR chipset prices slump

By Tony Smith

May 23, 2001
The Register

Taiwan's chipset makers are slashing prices on their DDR SDRAM chipsets in response to cool demand for DDR systems, intense rivalry between them, and the imminent arrival of Intel's SDRAM-based chipset, the 845 aka Brookdale.

So say the major mobo makers, according to a DigiTimes report. The board builders say DDR chipsets from likes of SIS, VIA and Acer Labs have recently fallen to $19-20 a pop - a fall of around $10 on the original price. The cuts have been implemented through a mix of rebates and actual reductions.

AMD, Intel and DDR

By our LetterMeister

May 24, 2001
The Inquirer

A LITTLE THOUGHT came into my mind whilst reading your article. Basically I think Intel would like DDR to die more than Rambus does, my reasoning being this.

Take a rough estimate that Intel still owns 75-85% of the CPU market. The majority of these CPU's still being based on the PIII core which tends not to like RDRAM at all.

PIII based CPU's do not perform better with DDR SDRAM and hence the more expensive mobo/mem combination can not be justified.

Nvidia and Via heading for legal tussle?

By Mike Magee

May 23, 2001
The Inquirer

RUMOURS ARE CIRCULATING in old Taipei, that Nvidia and Via are heading for a legal fight over alleged patent infringement in the Crush 11 chipset.

The rumours, which cannot be substantiated as we write this story, suggest that Via is considering taking action because technology incorporated in one of its chipsets which uses S3 graphics extensions.

Sources suggest that Via is surprised that technology incorporated in Crush 11's Southbridge could emerge quite as quickly as it did.

SNAP's Crushbaby: details emerge

By Fuad Abazovic

May 24, 2001
The Inquirer

FIRST, I REALLY THINK that Nvidia and Microsoft with the Xbox and Sony with the PlayStation 2 are neglecting Europe.

I have come to conclusion that at the USA WinHec geekfest, Nvidia did present Crush 11 and Crush 12 chipset designs among some MSI sample board with diagrams.

At The Inquirer we call Nvidia's Crush and SNAP strategies the plans that dare not speak their name, after an Nvidiot denied either existed at E3 last week.

Who says Pentium 4 runs hot?

By Andrew Thomas

May 22, 2001
The Inquirer

INTEL FAMOUSLY frowns on overclocking, but isn't stupid enough to pretend it doesn't exist, so if you're one of those people who likes to keep an eye on how hot things are getting inside your PC, Intel has a cool new piece of software just for you.

Provided - reasonably enough - you have an Intel mobo, Active Monitor checks fan speeds, temperatures and voltages and gives a cheery warning before everything melts.

Intel's Tualatin server plans
MP, DP systems pushed back

By Mike Magee

May 11, 2001
The Inquirer

THE INTEL SERVER ROADMAP we saw over someone's shoulder yesterday certainly has one or two surprises in it.

Again, it shows Intel is confident it can bang .13 micron Tualatin processors out of the door.

According to the map, the 1.13GHz Tualatin (no Coppermink one now), will reach the world during the week of the 25th of June. Shortly after that, the 1.26GHz will be available - early July.

Via concerned about Intel i830

By Fuad Abazovic

May 24, 2001
The Inquirer

ACCORDING TO OUR FRIENDS, the S3/Via combine is very worried about Intel's next P6 chipset also known as the i830.Some of you may know this as Almador which will find its place in the sun in notebook and smaller computers.

This chipset will support mobile Pentium III and mobile Celeron processors and it is worrying Via, our friends say, because it apparently greatly increases integrated performance.

"Hammer of Intel" space explained

By Mike Magee

May 23, 2001
The Inquirer

THE ADDITIONAL SPACE allocated on AMD's Hammer microprocessor is reserved for additional SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) functions, according to sources close to the chip company.

Yesterday we pointed to a piece on Ace's Hardware, translating an article in Japanese, which gave dimensions of the die of AMD's up-and-coming-some-time "Clawhammer" 64-bit chip. (See Hammer die a little square)

Sources tell The Inquirer that Hammer will include north bridge functionality built into the processor.

Intel Itanium to launch next Tuesday - says Hewlett-Packard

By Tony Smith

May 24, 2001
The Register

Hewlett-Packard has confirmed 29 May - next Tuesday - as the official launch date of Intel's 64-bit Itanium processor.

HP will be launching servers based on Itanium on that date, we hear. Why? Because that's the day Intel will release the new chip, an HP representative let slip.

To be fair, HP isn't exactly breaking any confidences here. Both IBM and Dell have unveiled Itanium-based workstations and servers during the last two or three weeks, with the intention of shipping them real soon now.

Intel fires re-marking dealers
Execution, surprise visits

By Mike Magee

May 24, 2001
The Inquirer

FOUR INDIAN DEALERS who were accused of remarking genuine Pentium III chips have been given by the bullet by the Intel Corporation.

A report in IT IQ saod that Intel has quietly removed four dealerships from Genuine Intel Dealer (GID) list - the Indian equivalent of the North American IPD scheme.

Re-marking is a particular problem in the emerging Indian PC market, according to the piece, which says that some dealers have also re-marked AMD parts.

May 23, 2001

Intel: Itanium mainly a development chip

May 22, 2001
C/Net

Itanium-based servers for the telecommunications market will be largely symbolic until the arrival of the chip's successor.

Despite multiple delays and the stringent requirements of much of its target market, Intel still says its Itanium processor launch this year will be one of the biggest introductions of its kind. But a senior executive admitted that telecommunications companies and other businesses won't be tempted to switch their existing 64-bit systems over to IA-64 until next year.

AMD, M-Systems To Develop Flash Data Storage Products

May 22, 2001
Electronic News

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and Kfar Saba, Israel-based M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd. today announced a strategic agreement to jointly develop high-density flash data storage products for the mobile data storage market. The companies said they intend to create embedded data storage products for mobile applications by combining AMD’s experience in manufacturing, packaging and flash technology with M-Systems’ DiskOnChip technology.

Both companies will jointly develop and market the flash data storage products, which they said would be designed to offer the functionality of a hard drive, with the characteristics of flash memory, such as low power consumption. Products that will benefit from a mobile storage device include cellular telephones, wireless devices, hand-held PCs and automotive PCs, the companies said.

Micron-Rambus case to begin in October

By David Becker

May 22, 2001
C/Net

The schedule for Micron Technology's high-stakes fraud and patent-infringement lawsuit against memory designer Rambus has been reset so the court can digest findings in a similar case involving chipmaker Infineon.

A U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del., was scheduled to begin hearing part of the Micron case May 31 as part of a nonjury proceeding. Instead, hearings will begin on the original date of Oct. 29, said Micron representative Sean Mahoney. The case could be worth many millions of dollars.

Truths...from the rumor mill

Great Chip Satan hell-bent on Rambus

By Mike Magee

May 22, 2001
The Inquirer

FINANCIAL ANALYSTS ALREADY disappointed by our news that Brookdale DDR is a phenomenon that won't happen until next year, had better brace themselves for more news.

Intel, a company with more than a little interest in scapegoat firm Rambus, is ready to shuffle out further boxed motherboards during the course of this year and next to show it believes with all of its soul and half of its heart that RIMMs beat DIMMs.

P4 backwards compatibility riddle solved

By Andrew Thomas

May 22, 2001
The Inquirer

THERE SEEMS to be some confusion out there in hardware land about a compatibility mode tucked away inside the Pentium 4 and an alleged performance hit should it be switched on. A few days ago, discussion on Ace's Hardware reckoned that the FPU OPCode compatibility function in the P4 could slow performance by up to 17 per cent and that Intel was recommending that it be switched on by default to provide compatibility with ancient software.

However, asking several Intel boffins on both sides of the Atlantic about the issue clarified the situation - FPU OPCode defaults to 'off' and the Intel recommendation is that it should stay off, so if any OEMs are switching it on, they should jolly well stop it immediately.

Corporations scared of Itanic boost

By Mike Magee

May 22, 2001
The Inquirer

YESTERDAY WE WROTE a story about HP's Aries technology which it hopes will transform the Itanic family of Intel chips into a fleet of beautiful swans rather than a set of ugly ducklings. The following letter, from a corporate user of kit, gives a different point of view to the Powerpointillism.

"HP says its Aries tool is best suited for IP bound apps, middleware and GUI apps. In these, there will be little or no noticeable performance change. With compute bound applications, it operates at 40-70 per cent native performance.

AMD-Nvidia SNAP deal still on
Must have been an Nvidiot

By Adamson Rust

May 22, 2001
The Inquirer

REPORTS THAT THERE IS NO SUCH THING as a Strategic Nvidia AMD Partnership (SNAP) are wildly off the mark, we can confirm.

In fact the truth is at the same time more banal and also more exciting than anyone could hope for. [Are you sure about this Adamson? It's only three or four stinking chipsets. Ed.]

Sources confirmed that the two firms are in active collaboration over future chipsets and have been so for at least a year, at the time when the Wintel X Box was almost a WinAMD X Box. That follows a comment from an obviously Nvidia employee (Nvidiot?) to AMD Zone that neither Crush nor SNAP existed.

AMD's Hammer a little square

By Mike Magee

May 22, 2001
The Inquirer

CLUES AS TO THE SIZE of the AMD Clawhammer die have emerged on Ace's Hardware.

According to the piece, which draws information from our old friends at PC Watch in Akihabara, the die size for Clawhammer will be 105 square millimetres on a .13 micron process.

Palomino's die size is 80 square millimetres on a .13 micron process.

May 22, 2001

Merrill cuts Intel, AMD estimates

By Margaret Kane

May 21, 2001
C/Net

Merrill Lynch analyst Joe Osha cut ratings on both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices on Monday, saying that the continuing depression in the PC market could hurt both companies.

Intel's stock was off 6 cents to $28.70 in early trading. AMD's was down 46 cents to $32.03.

The health of the PC market has been a source of much concern among analysts. Osha's colleague at Merrill Lynch, Steve Fortuna, recently lowered his forecasts for the market, saying it would likely grow only 3 percent in the United States this year.

Intel powers down with new chips

By John G. Spooner

May 21, 2001
C/Net

Intel wants to be the king of energy-saving processors.

The chipmaker on Monday launched five new mobile Pentium III and Celeron processors, ranging from 600MHz to 800MHz. Four of the five new chips operate at lower voltage than the company's standard mobile processors.

By cutting back on the processors' power consumption and heat production, the new chips will allow PC makers to build thinner, lighter notebooks.

Intel Debuts Mobile MPUs

May 21, 2001
Electronic News

Intel Corp. has announced a line of power-efficient processors for lightweight mobile personal computers, an area where companies like Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and Transmeta Corp. have scored some success recently.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel (nasdaq: INTC) said the new line of processors, based on the Pentium 3 core, are positioned for the PC market where low power consumption is key in earning design wins. The processors are being introduced in 600MHz and 750MHz versions and will carry the company’s Speed Step power and voltage scaling capability. That feature is designed to scale back the power consumption of the P3 chip when it is not running intensive applications. Intel said the Speed Step feature extends the battery life of systems compared to those that don’t have it.

Intel hypes new server-computer chips

By Bloomberg News

May 21, 2001
C/Net

Intel, the biggest computer chipmaker, begins advertising Monday to promote its processors for server computers, which will compete with those of Sun Microsystems.

The "macro-processing" campaign will play on the difference between big and small computing, using analogies such as a speedboat and an ocean liner.

Intel is known for making chips that run servers managing traffic and content on Web sites at data-processing centers. The company wants to make executives and information technology managers aware of its server chips for computers that manage large databases--a market segment in which Sun leads.

Intel unveils workstation Pentium 4 chip

By Jack Robertson

May 21, 2001
EBN

Intel Corp. on Monday unveiled its Pentium 4 dual processor workstation processor, simply called the Xeon family, and said it will bring out a server version of the processor in the third quarter.

Originally code-named Foster, the Xeon chip uses the Intel IA-32 quad-pumped 400-MHz processor bus and MicroBurst architecture, also used in the current Pentium 4 desktop MPUs. The biggest change is the ability to use a dual processor configuration, which also demands a new Intel 860 chipset.

Truths...from the rumor mill

Intel Foster finally a go-go

By Mike Magee

May 21, 2001
The Inquirer

INTEL'S FOSTER platform, which was postponed two weeks ago because of "electrical difficulties" is now available.

So says Dell, which has now released its Precision 530 for "power hungry" professionals and CAD engineers.

The 530 is a dual Xeon (Foster) machine which includes two 1.7GHz 603 pin Intel chips, and which will support up to 4Gb of Rambus memory, as well as providing 292Gb of internal SCSI storage.

Intel launches Macroprocessor

By Andrew Thomas

May 21, 2001
The Inquirer

LA INTELLA is preparing to spend tens of millions of dollars putting its Foster and Merced, aka Xeon and Itanium, server message on billboards, magazine pages and Web sites.

The ad campaign will "stress how the benefits of the microprocessor, such as volume economics, performance leadership and industry innovation, are being extended to meet the demands and opportunities of servers in the Internet-enabled enterprise".

This translates as 'Buy more chips'.

1.33GHz Athlon position improves

By the Newsdesk

May 21, 2001
The Inquirer

THE FLOODGATES have appeared to open on 1.333GHz Athlons in the spot market, says Marco Fumagalli.

Several brokers started offering the part towards the end of last week, indicating that the drought, which has lasted for several weeks, now appears to be over.

A 200MHz Athlon 1.3GHz costs $160 in the spot market while the 266MHz front side bus version costs between $15 and $20 more.

May 21, 2001

Micron vs. Rambus trial postponed until October

By Jack Robertson

May 18, 2001
EBN

Micron Technology Inc. attorneys Friday confirmed that the chip maker's initial patent trial against Rambus Inc. in the Wilmington, Del., federal court has been postponed five months until Oct. 29.

A nonjury trial had been scheduled to begin May 31 concerning fraud allegations against Rambus for failing to disclose its synchronous patent applications while participating in the industry JEDEC committee drafting an open SDRAM standard.

Ruling on Rambus patents may happen next month

By Jack Robertson

May 18, 2001
EBN

Federal Judge Robert Payne isn't expected to decide until next month whether Rambus Inc.'s synchronous DRAM patents are unenforceable.

After the jury in the patent infringement case against Infineon Technologies AG found Rambus had committed fraud, the German chip maker filed a motion to nullify the Rambus patents.

The two sides are setting up a schedule for filing briefs and a possible court hearing on the patent unenforceability motion.

The War Escalates
Athlon4 takes on Pentium4

By Bert McComas & Van Smith

May, 2001
InQuest Market Research

Building on the considerable success of its Thunderbird Athlon core, AMD has managed to surprise everyone with the potency of its Palomino CPU design. The new 1GHz power managed Mobile Athlon4 (the mobile iteration of the Palomino core) should compete admirably with Intel’s Mobile P3. The Athlon4 incorporates a hardware data prefetch feature plus 3DNow Professional, which offers backward compatibility to Intel’s SSE instruction set. Soon, these performance enhancing features will also show up in AMD’s new desktop CPU, fueling its already strong position against Intel’s P4.

On the other side of the fence, Intel is struggling in its transition to 0.13 micron, further delaying its transition to the Northwood processor. The good news for P4 is its upcoming break with Rambus as its only memory option. This comes on the heels of the sensational Rambus courtroom backfire, rendering Rambus’ SDRAM and DDR patent claims unenforceable and resulting in a jury judgment of Fraud against Rambus with damages levied of 3.5 million dollars.

AMD turns up heat on Intel by sampling 1.4- and 1.5-GHz processors

May 18, 2001
Semiconductor Business News

Turning up the heat in the microprocessor wars, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is sampling its fastest x86-based chips to date to key system manufacturers, according to sources.

AMD is shipping its 1.4- and 1.5-GHz family of Athlon processors, which will be officially introduced in June and July, respectively, sources said. The products represent the company's fastest processors to data (sic). At present, AMD's fastest Athlon MPUs run at speeds up to 1.3-GHz.

Is AMD Shrinking Intel’s Margins?

By Tom Murphy

May 18, 2001
Electronic News

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., has given Intel Corp., Santa Clara, Calif., something to gnash its teeth about. Over the last year competition looks like it will broaden across more market segments and result in a more favorable environment for consumers.

"This competition is creating more value and secular changes in the X86 microprocessor market than ever before," said Nathan Brookwood, analyst for Insight 64, Saratoga, Calif.

Intel takes aim at the supply chain
New program to address rise in EMS design services

By Claire Serant

May 18, 2001
EBN

Intel Corp. is trying to intercept the trend toward outsourced system design by positioning itself squarely between its OEM customers and their EMS providers.

Sensing a vast market shift and a potential wealth of business opportunity, Intel last week disclosed formal ties with four leading contract manufacturers aimed at allowing it to keep an active hand in its customers' design work. Though less than 10% of all design services are currently outsourced, the concept is among the most hotly debated topics in the market, triggering interest from every quarter.

Truths...from the rumor mill

Intel alleged to throttle P4 speed

By Eva Glass

May 20, 2001
The Inquirer

A MASSIVE CONTRETEMPS has broken out all over the Web after a chip analyst published further information which seems to suggest that the Pentium 4 does use so called "clock throttling" after all.

InQuest's Bert McComas first sparked off the ruckus just before Easter when he published information which seemed to suggest Pentium 4s ran at half speed under certain conditions.

For a piece written on the site, McComas received a thorough spanking from a number of folk who claimed his findings had no technical validity.

Dog eats dog in Rambusville

By Mike "Gonzo Dog Doodah Banned" Magee

May 20, 2001
The Inquirer

ALL THE STAFF HERE IN HARROW are great fans of local Los Altos newspaper the Town Crier.

The local newspaper has so far reported twice on Rambus' activities in Los Altos - once favourably and once unfavourably.

And last week it reported perfectly fairly on the Infineon-Rambus case, as well as providing a local police report that makes Harrow look like it's the sink of inquity, in parts. [It is, in parts, Ed.]

Intel's Merced will live forever
Well sort of

By Mike Magee

May 20, 2001
The Inquirer

THE FIRST EUROPEAN Intel Developer Forum was an interesting gig, partly because the feel of the occasion, held at the execrable Rai centre in Amsterdam, was just so very different from the events held in Palm Springs and more recently in the San Jose convention centre.

How different? Well, Intel had obviously tailored this event for the European market and while under the bonnet (hood) the noble aim of the affair was obviously still to sell processors and silicon of one type or another, you could be forgiven for thinking that you'd stumbled into a telecomms or a datacomms seminar.

More Tualatin mobos arrive

By Mike Magee

May 20, 2001
The Inquirer

LIKE WE'VE BEEN SAYING FOR A WHILE, Intel is ready to go chip crazy with its .13 micron Tualatin families.

Over at Akiba Price Watch in Japan, there are pictures of mobos supporting the Tualatin Pentium III desktop chip, and in particular the B Step of the 815, which we've talked about at some length.

If you refer to this page, you will find more details of the desktops, including pricing and the 815-b step chipset needed for the platform.

Via P4 Chipset Computex

By Fuad Abazovic

May 20, 2001
The Inquirer

PLUCKY LITTLE CHIPSET COMPANY via - which is always spelled in lower case rather than upper case -- is to kick its Pentium 4 P4X266 into action at this year's Computex in Taiwan.

As we revealed here earlier, this chipset will have Super Savage integrated into its core which should give it some extra performance gain.

Via will soon launch 2 more chipsets:

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