Collected By Robert R. Collins

Week of June 3, 2001

Older News

Intel spurns Via, Nvidia chipsets

By Ian Fried

June 7, 2001
C/Net

In an interview, Intel Vice President Anand Chandrasekher rejected Via's claims that computers will run faster using its chipset than with Intel's 850 chipset. He also dismissed Via's contention that it is entitled to produce the chipset it demonstrated Tuesday at the Computex trade show here.

Via Technologies plans stock sale

By Faith Hung

June 7, 2001
EBN

The chipset maker is about to hire Credit Suisse First Boston and a few others to manage the sale.

The long-awaited stock sale has been delayed since last year, as a slump in PC demand dragged down sales of Taipei-based Via and many makers of PCs, semiconductors and components.

Transmeta Recognized By U.S. Environmental Protection Agency For Energy-Efficient Crusoe Microprocessor

June 7, 2001
Yahoo Finance

"Transmeta has made a significant, innovative contribution to energy efficiency and power management with the development of the Crusoe microprocessor," said Craig Hershberg, Energy Star product manager. "Transmeta's development of Code Morphing technology and LongRun power management has made it possible to drastically reduce the Crusoe microprocessor's power consumption without sacrificing performance."

Intel airs Itanium underpants in public

By John Leyden

June 6, 2001
The Register

Part of Intel's presentation in London today included a demonstration by knowledge management firm Autonomy, whose intelligent search engine software ended up displaying our story HP wears Itanium underpants and sings the Intel song to the massed ranks of hacks present.

VIA P4 chipset spanks the Intel 850

By Robert Blincoe

June 5, 2001
The Register

This is interesting, of course, because VIA hasn't got an Intel licence for its P4 X 266 chipset, which isn't even in production yet.

The mano-a-mano punch-up was held at the Computex tradeshow in Taiwan. Naturally things fell over, as they always do at live demos, but the final scores were 1391 for the Intel chipset and 1484 for the VIA. So trousers down, six-of-the-best, VIA gave Intel a good spanking.

Taipei balloon incident gets real nasty

By Mike Magee

June 6, 2001
The Inquirer

According to today's Economic News, representatives from Intel Taiwan pulled down large balloons advertising Via's P4 chip set, with the newspaper claiming that was at the prompting of INTC's legal department.

Yesterday, as we reported, Via demonstrated publicly its P4X266 chipset, for which it does not have a licence from Intel, but for which it claims it does not need one, because of S3 patents it acquired.

Intel incensed at VIA inflatables

By Tony Smith

June 7, 2001
The Register

Intel, we hear, wanted the organisers of the Taipei-hosted expo to force VIA to remove balloons raised aloft to promote the VIA brand, according to DigiTimes. Anandtech has some nice piccies of the inflatables here.

The Taipei Computer Association effectively told Intel to fornicate off, it seems. VIA had paid for the right to put up the balloons above its own stand and those of mobo makers, it said.

Intel in anti-Rambus move?

By Mike Magee

June 5, 2001
The Inquirer

We're not entirely sure what the source for these rumours are but if they're true, and I worked in a senior position at Rambus Ink (both unlikely, I know), I'd be ringing my lawyers again and asking how much Intel's worth.

The suggestion at Anandtech is that the only reason that the Computex show floors are filled with i845 Brookdale solutions for SDRAM and not for DDR too, is that under the existing terms of an agreement between La Intella and the Ramboids, no such mobos can be made real soon now.

Intel not yet ready for DDR

By Mike Magee

June 7, 2001
The Inquirer

We were interested in pursuing the remarks Mr Anand made from the Computex floor - in short - is the i845 DDR (double data rate) platform ready but negotiations with Rambus are preventing its release.

No, said the Intel guy, "I don't believe we have fully validated our DDR yet."

Rambus to ship 250 million units this year

By Mike Magee

June 5, 2001
The Inquirer

The letter also claims that Dramurai (big memory companies) who have already signed up to take the Rambus shilling on DDR (double date rate) memory and SDRAM (synchronous dynamic random access memory) will have to carry on paying up, despite a recent court case.

AMD reckons it's got Intel on the run

By Andrew Thomas

June 7, 2001
The Inquirer

"Intel's approach with Itanium is to produce a power-hungry, overpriced chip and ram it down your throat," quipped Rich Heye, AMD's veep of platform engineering, and, incidentally, a dead ringer for comedian Rich Hall, but with infinitely less funny jokes.

AMD to sample Hammer by year-end

By Tony Smith

June 6, 2001
The Register

The first Hammer CPU, ClawHammer, aimed at uni- and dual-processor systems is set to ship early Q3 2002, when it will supersede the Athlon MP and that chip's 0.13 micron successor, codenamed Thoroughbred. AMD rolled out the Athlon MP, running at 1GHz and 1.2GHz, yesterday.

Intel disses VIA - official
How times change

By Andrew Thomas

June 7, 2001
The Inquirer

So when senior veep Anand Chandrasekher was asked to comment on claims that computers will run faster using the new VIA chipset than with Intel's home-grown 850, and was quoted in an interview with CNET as saying:

"They're not licensed, and the performance claims they are making are bogus," we thought it was just another instance of what Intel likes to refer to as a loose cannon, firing from the hip.

Via goes .13 micron with C3

By Mike Magee

June 5, 2001
The Inquirer

It is the first x86 microprocessor to be produced on this process, although Intel and AMD have designs on this die size too.

At the same time, it introduced a mobile C3 aimed at the notebook and sub notebook market.

Intel samples 0.13-micron Pentium 4 in Taiwan

By Jack Robertson and Faith Hung

June 5, 2001
Semiconductor Business News

ASUSTek Computer Inc. and Gigabyte Technology Co. officials interviewed Tuesday at the Computex computer show confirmed they are starting to prepare Northwood boards for the expected 2-GHz processor. Engineering specialists staffing Computex booths of the other Big Five motherboard makers said they couldn't comment.

Intel to show long-awaited 'Brookdale' chip set in Taiwan, say sources

By Mark LaPedus

June 4, 2001
Semiconductor Business News

At this week's Computex trade show in Taipei, Taiwan, Intel is expected to show samples of its code-named "Brookdale" chip set series. The chip set, to be called the 845 by Intel, will be supported by several Taiwanese motherboard makers, according to sources in the country.

AMD's Athlon challenges Intel on server front

By Jerry Ascierto

June 5, 2001
EE Times

AMD's 1-GHz and 1.2-GHz processors are an important first step in the company's plan to battle Intel on the server front, a market that has recently seen Intel's unveiling of its long-awaited Itanium architecture. AMD's processors are complemented by the AMD-760 MP chip set, which supports double-data-rate memory.

AMD launches companion chips

By Ian Fried

June 4, 2001
C/Net

At a press conference at the Computex trade show here, AMD introduced the AMD-760 MP companion chips, which support Double Data Rate (DDR) memory, and mutiprocessor-capable versions of the Athlon itself. AMD said the new processors and chipset will be used in servers and workstations from more than 20 computer makers.

AMD expects revenue growth despite industry slump

By Reuters

June 6, 2001
EBN

``At this point in time our expectation for 2001 is that we will have modest growth for the year,'' he told a news conference.

He reiterated AMD's goal of boosting market share in its key flash memory and microprocessor markets this year, allowing it to achieve modest revenue growth despite expectations of an industry-wide decline of up to 15 percent.

Via eyes notebooks with low-power chip

By Ian Fried

June 5, 2001
C/Net

On Tuesday, Via launched the C3 processor, a chip that the Taiwanese company hopes is fast enough, cheap enough and, when it comes to power, frugal enough to challenge offerings from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices in the notebook computer market.

"We emphasize low power consumption as well as low cost," Via President Wen-Chi Chen said at a press conference at the Computex trade show here. "That's what we believe the market will need."

Via introduces Pentium 4 chipset -- without an Intel license

By Jack Robertson and Faith Hung

June 6, 2001
EBN

Intel's biggest chipset rival, Via demonstrated its long-rumored P4 chipset for the first time at the Computex show in Taipei Tuesday. The Taipei-based company said it isn't worried about the lack of the license.

"My legal team told me that we won't have legal problems" amid the cross-licensing agreement Via has with S3 Inc, Via's president and chief executive Chen Wen-chi told reporters. Via declined to give details such as production and shipment schedule.

Via Technologies unveils 0.13-micron processor

June 5, 2001
Semiconductor Business News

Debuting at speeds of 800-MHz, the new mobile VIA C3 processor from Via features the world's smallest die size and lowest power consumption.

The processor is designed for "a complete range of full-featured, slim and light, and mini-note notebooks covering all market segments," said Wenchi Chen, president and CEO of Taipei-based Via.

Via demos Pentium 4 DDR chip set

By Mike Clendenin

June 5, 2001
EE Times

Via is the first third-party supplier with a Pentium 4 chip set for the mainstream PC market. The company said it will ship the P4X266 chip set in August whether it has a license for the Pentium 4 bus from Intel or not, and has secured the cooperation of Taiwan's top motherboard makers, which will begin shipping boards around the same time. During a limited benchmarking demonstration Tuesday, Via ran a 1.5-GHz Pentium 4 with an Intel 850 chip set and Rambus memory against a Pentium 4 with Via's X266 chip set and DDR memory. On a 3D Mark 2001 test, the X266 showed roughly 8 percent better system performance, according to Via.

Nvidia moves into the chipset arena

By Ian Fried

June 4, 2001
C/Net

On Monday, the company announced its nForce chipset, a pair of chips that combine the company's GeForce graphics with the core logic functions that control the interactions between the processor and memory and other peripherals.

The first chip, dubbed an Integrated Graphics Processor, includes the graphics core, memory controller and an advanced type of caching engine that is designed to predict what information will be needed. The second chip, known as a Multimedia Communications Processor, combines an audio processor as well as controllers for various peripherals such as USB and PCI connections.

Nvidia rolls out nForce chipset for AMD motherboards

By Faith Hung and Jack Robertson

June 4, 2001
EBN

The nForce graphics chipset with integrated media communications processor and embedded memory is said to deliver 4.2Gbyte/s throughput and what Nvidia claimed is the fastest I/O south bridge in the industry. Jeff Fisher, vice president of worldwide sales for the Santa Clara, Calif., company, said nForce chips will be available in production this summer and desktop motherboards with the chipset and GeForce 2 graphics card will ship in the fall.

Intel exec: No new layoffs

By Reuters

June 6, 2001
C/Net

"We feel comfortable with the measures we have introduced," he said in an interview with the Financial Times Deutschland. The world's leading chipmaker said in March it would shed 5,000 jobs. Last month it reported a 64 percent year-on-year fall in first-quarter profits and forecast that second-quarter sales would slide about 20 percent from last year.

Infineon decides not to challenge Rambus patents

By Jack Robertson

June 1, 2001
EBN

A motion asking Judge Payne to make such a ruling had been expected since a jury in the Richmond, Va., federal district court last month found Rambus had committed fraud. Based on the fraud verdict, Infineon told Judge Payne it would seek to have the SDRAM patents declared unenforceable.

Rambus and Sun cases may prompt new FTC rule

By Jack Robertson

June 1, 2001
EBN

Industry sources questioned by the FTC told EBN last week that the agency is looking into formulating a rule requiring all participants in an industry open-standards committee to disclose their pending patent applications.

The possible FTC rule would clearly state that a company hiding its pending patents would be considered as acting in restraint of trade in violation of antitrust statutes.

Era ends as Gordon Moore quits Intel's board

By Patrick Mannion

June 1, 2001
EE Times

The man in question is Gordon Moore, who at the end of May quietly closed the final chapter in an extraordinary career that is inextricably linked to the history of the semiconductor industry itself. Hewing to Intel Corp.'s mandatory retirement age of 72 — a policy he imposed himself about 20 years ago to assist in succession planning for the board of directors — Moore retired from the board of the company he co-founded in 1968. The inventor of Moore's Law and one of the last true giants of the electronics industry can still "dance a little." He will continue to work with the Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker as a consultant to the board, spending at least one day a week in the office. But he is no longer a voting member.

Is Intel Xeon delay Itanic's fault?

By Mike Magee

May 31, 2001
The Inquirer

But if that is the reason for both four way and eight way Foster MP chips being delayed, it is unlikely to cut much ice with Compaq, which has told its customers it will continue to pile onto the eight-way 32-bit bandwagon.

Absent from Intel's Itanic benchmarks was any real comparison of the processors with its own 32-bit offerings in server form -- such as the 900MHz Xeon Cashcade -- which, informed sources within the corporation tell us, are capable of delivering plenty of "bangs to the buck" compared to the grown up 64-bit giant.

Intel puts back notebook Tualatin launch

June 1, 2001
The Inquirer

Originally, Intel was to have launched the processors in June, but that now seems to have slipped a little, according to the most recent information we have.

Further, Intel has taken an axe to its original pricing model and now appears to be positioning its top end 1133MHz Tualatin Pentium III most aggressively.

Notebook shortfall real cause for concern

By Mike Magee

June 3, 2001
The Inquirer

You can find our original storyhere, but, to summarise, it is the result of research from Taiwanese quango CETRA and says that for the first time in 20 years the island's growth has been negative.

In particular, one part of the survey caught our eye, and that was the collapse in sales of notebook machines.

AMD white paper describes new Athlon architecture

By Mike Magee

June 1, 2001
The Inquirer

The paper explains the two translation look-aside buffers (TLB) for data and instruction address translation, and goes in detail into the type of cacheing that the Palomino Athlons use.

In addition, it gives additional details about 3D Now Professional and its 52 additional instructions, as well as they way the new Palomino core supports Screaming Sindy (SSE) instructions.

Via Ezra details emerge

By Fuad Abazovic

June 2, 2001
The Inquirer

The older chip family is Samuel I, which features clock speeds 500, 550, 600, 650, 667 and 700 as the fastest from that family.

All of these fit in socket 370 motherboards and they have been developed in TSMC's fabs in a 0.18µ process.

Via takes aim at AMD, Intel

By Fuad Abazovic

June 3, 2001
The Inquirer

Here they are.

Clock speeds will start from 900 MHz, hit 950MHz then break the magic barrier of 1000, reach 1100MHz and stop at 1200MHz.

Intel to make consultants trillianaires (sic)

By Mike Magee

June 3, 2001
The Inquirer

In fact, says software migration firm Migratec, "The migration from 32 to 64-bit platforms will make the Y2K bug seem like a warm-up exercise because there are untold billions of lines of C and C++ code that are critical to enterprise applications."