Microprocessor
Headline News

Top Stories for November 5, 2001 (details below)
C/Net	Transmeta: Are the chips down?
EE Times	HyperTransport, RapidIO switch chips set to duel
*Truths...from the rumor mill*
The Inquirer	Intel moves to plug AMD server gap
The Register	SIS has Rambus chipset in sight despite denials
The Inquirer	Intel tacitly accepts AMD's PR rating
The Inquirer	Intel's P4 mobile chips in Q1 - boxed
The Inquirer	Intel updates desktop roadmaps
The Register	Intel brings forward Brookdale G

Microprocessor Headline News

Collected By Robert R. Collins

Week of November 4, 2001

Older News

November 6, 2001
Transmeta: Are the chips down? By Michael Kanellos and Rachel Konrad November 5, 2001 C/Net	Toshiba had big plans earlier this year for the U.S. release of a laptop with an energy-efficient chip from Transmeta, a product that would have represented a coup for the upstart chipmaker in its rivalry with mighty Intel. But in the latest setback for Transmeta, Toshiba quietly pulled the plug on the notebook this summer, partly because of delays surrounding Transmeta's latest chip, executives told CNET News.com.
HyperTransport, RapidIO switch chips set to duel By Rick Merritt November 5, 2001 EE Times	The race to define a post-PCI interconnect for communications systems will heat up Monday (Nov. 5) as two fabless design companies announce competing switch chips. API Networks Inc.'s four-port switch is designed for HyperTransport, while Tundra Semiconductor's six-port switch and supporting silicon target RapidIO. Both companies hope to grab sockets in communications systems that need a fast standard interconnect beyond PCI. And both ultimately will face competition from 3GIO, a PCI replacement backed by Intel Corp. but not expected to see silicon until late 2003 or early 2004.
*Truths...from the rumor mill*
Intel moves to plug AMD server gap By Mike Magee November 5, 2001 The Inquirer	INTEL HAS NEVER MADE A BIG song and dance about boxed products for the server marketplace - this is because of old the big PC makers found high margin and good business delivering big machines with Xeon processors with heaps of cache. But the times they are a changing, and in part this is due to Advanced Micro Devices and Via, who wish to step into those lucrative blue suede shoes that only La Intella was able to wear in days of yore.
SIS has Rambus chipset in sight despite denials By Tony Smith November 5, 2001 The Register	SIS is still in the running to offer a Rambus chipset for the Pentium 4 despite the denials company executives issued last week. Industry sources cited by EBN claim that the company has offered to develop a chipset that would support Rambus' quad-channel RDRAM - 4i Direct DRAM - after Intel decided that it wasn't going to produce one of its own.
Intel tacitly accepts AMD's PR rating By Mike Magee November 5, 2001 The Inquirer	THE INTRODUCTION OF THE 1.6GHz Athlon Palomino (1900+) today shows how tough the price war is but appears to demonstrate that Intel has lost the battle and tacitly accepts AMD's PR rating. That's because the price of the AMD 1.6GHz (1900+) is equivalent to the price of the 1.9GHz Intel Pentium 4, for the time being at least. Intel took 27 per cent off the price of its 1.9GHz (1900MHz) chip just a week ago, obviously anticipating a swift AMD riposte.
Intel's P4 mobile chips in Q1 - boxed By Mike Magee November 5, 2001 The Inquirer	CHIP GIANT INTELLA appears to be so confident of its ability to produce low power Pentium 4 mobile processors that it will release boxed versions as early as the end of the first quarter next year. That is the shape of the boxed mobile roadmap Intel is presenting to its distributors, which has a 1.70GHz Pentium 4 using a .13 micron process appearing in the "professional" category, with other flavours such as a 1.60GHz, 1.50GHz and a 1.40GHz mobile processor occupying other mainstream categories in its spring lineup next year.
Intel updates desktop roadmaps By Mike Magee November 5, 2001 The Inquirer	IT ONLY SEEMS A MATTER OF weeks since we last saw an Intel desktop roadmap and sure enough as the company accelerates its Pentium 4 map we're off again. In fact, it is only a matter of weeks. Intel has accelerated its plans to continue to compete with AMD on both pricing and speed during the course of 2001. It now seems pretty certain that Intel will reserve its "Northwood" .13 micron die shrink until Q1 of next year, with the first processor out of its starting gate being a 2.2GHz Pentium 4 complete with 512K of cache and the 400MHz front side bus we all know.
Intel brings forward Brookdale G By Tony Smith November 5, 2001 The Register	Intel will begin to ship the integrated-graphics version of its 845 chipset - codenamed Brookdale G - next February, ahead of its official introduction in April and considerably in advance of its previously timetabled launch in Q3 2002. According to a report in DigiTimes, the chip giant has told mobo makers that it has had to bring the schedule so far forward to allow it to compete more effectively with rival Pentium 4 chipsets from SIS, Acer Labs and, yes, VIA too.
November 5, 2001
SiS said to be developing low-cost Rambus chipset By Jack Robertson November 2, 2001 EBN	Taiwan's Silicon Integrated Systems Inc. (SiS) is preparing to launch a chipset next year to support Rambus Inc.'s 4i four-bank Direct Rambus DRAM, following a decision by Intel Corp. to table a similarly-positioned chipset, code-named Tulloch, according to industry sources. The 4i RDRAM provides similar performance to mainstream 32-bank Rambus DRAM but at a lower cost, because it can be accommodated on a smaller die given that designers need to incorporate less logic ciruitry to control the four memory banks.
No Rambus support from SiS By Mike Magee November 2, 2001 The Inquirer	TAIWANESE WIRE Digitimes reports today that SiS will not introduce a chipset supporting Rambus memory types. That follows reports on Cnet that the company was contemplating such a move. But, the wire claims, SiS will go to DDR 400 during next year, although there is no specific date for such a release.
Intel takes a liking to Rambus DRAM for network processors By Jack Robertson November 2, 2001 EBN	At the very time Intel Corp. is readying support for double-data-rate SDRAM for its PC processors, the company has bypassed SDRAM in favor of Direct Rambus DRAM for its next-generation network processor. Though DDR and RDRAM will compete for sockets in Intel's mainstream PC platform, the Rambus architecture is proving particularly suited for the network processor the company plans to unveil in the first half of 2002.
Via rolls out Pentium 4 chipset with integrated graphics November 1, 2001 Semiconductor Business News	Taiwan's Via Technologies Inc. today announced a new version of its Pentium 4-compliant chip set line, this time with integrated graphics and modular features. The chip set, called the Via ProSavageDDR P4M266, supports PCs based on Intel Corp.'s Pentium 4 processor line. The device supports DDR (double-data-rate) SDRAM memory, AGP 8X, and 2D/3D graphics, based on S3 Graphics' ProSavage8 core. It also handles Ethernet-based protocols and Ultra ATA-133.
Intel unleashing low-power server chips By Stephen Shankland November 1, 2001 C/Net	Intel will release new chips at the Comdex trade show, its first low-power designs for super-thin servers squeezed into cabinets by the dozens, a source familiar with the plan said. The new Pentium III model is a gussied-up chip taken from the company's product line for portable computers, which share many of the same constraints as "ultradense" servers. These systems can't consume as much power or give off as much heat as ordinary CPUs because overheating causes processing errors.
*Truths...from the rumor mill*
Confessions of an Intel Dealer By an INQUIRER staffer November 2, 2001 The Inquirer	BECOMING A MEMBER of Intel's system builder programmes means you have to attend two training sessions a year. Here are the "confessions" of a system integrator who has just been through La Intella's mill. His identity is being kept secret on the grounds of no name, no pack drill. "I WENT to an Intel "training session" about a month ago.
Sun ready to ditch X86 support By Mike Magee November 2, 2001 The Inquirer	SOURCES SAID Sun Microsystems, in its bid to cut costs, is contemplating slashing its efforts to support the X86 platform in any way. The sources said Sun wants to stop shipping software on X86 platforms and Solaris 9 for IA-32 will remain a pipe dream. And IA-64 is even more of a pipe dream. Further, the sources said, other X86 products such as Solaris 8 and earlier revs, will not get patched or updated.
Erratum affecting Itanic chips? By Mike Magee November 1, 2001 The Inquirer	YESTERDAY WE REPORTED that there appears to be a shortage of Itanium 733MHz and 800MHz processors and we're still attempting to discover exactly what the problem is. But sources tell us - and so far we certainly cannot confirm them - that there could be a serious problem with the die itself, an erratum, which is currently being investigated by both Intel and a number of third parties.
Will Intel implement hyperthreading for P4? By Mike Magee November 4, 2001 The Inquirer	THANKS TO THE LINUX COMMUNITY, hyperthreading will be available for the Pentium 4, as the patch here quite clearly shows. But hang on a cotton-dogging minute. Jacksonville, SMT or whatever Intel's calling it right now, isn't going to be implemented for the Pentium 4 (Willamette) core, is it? At the Developer Forum last, Intel's Paul Otellini appeared to be saying this kind of technology will be implemented in Xe on servers next year.