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Lots of interesting Intel news over the past couple of days.
First, they've really accelerated their Itanium (IA-64) roadmap. The first dual-core (physically two processors in one) chip was originally scheduled for 2007, but was bumped up to 2005. They've also added a new chip for 2004 release (with 9MB of L3 cache -- the 6MB version is due out this summer). The story: http://news.com.com/2100-1001-980898.html?tag=fd_top
Second, they've announced some very encouraging financial numbers. They made $1B in net profit in Q4 2002 (this includes acquisition costs, it was $1.1B prior to those costs). This is 16 cents per share. At the same time, they've announced next year they're going to curb their (massive) capital spending budget to between $3.5B and $3.7B (down ~$1B or so) as they upgrade fabrication plants and build new ones. Particularly impressive is how far their costs of production for each chip have dropped. They've also managed to gain even higher marketshare from AMD in Q4. The story: http://news.com.com/2100-1001-980610.html
Thirdly, and much more technical (and therefore interesting), is Intel's update on their process technology. Intel's strategy over the past couple of years is to go gung-ho on capital spending, spending billions of dollars on upgrading their fab plants and process technology because they knew their competitors wouldn't be able to do that in an economic slump. Intel's been producing 0.13 micron chips for a long time now (8 months?), and AMD has been having some major problems with it by comparison (they've only been mass-producing chips on 0.13 for a couple months).
Intel plans to migrate to 0.09 micron in the second half of this year when they launch the Pentium 5 (Prescott), and AMD won't move there until 2004 sometime at the very earliest. Probably more like Q2 2004.
But it's already making great progress on the 0.065 micron process! It's announced it's already started making the 0.065 masks (which are used to fabricate the chip) and expects production of consumer 0.065 parts in 2005. That's a magic date.
It now looks pretty much guaranteed that IBM, Sony, and Toshiba will be stuck with the 0.09 process for the next generation of video game consoles to work with, while MS now has access to 0.065. That means MS will be able to make its chips smaller, faster, cooler, and cheaper. That could make a very big difference economically and in terms of console power.
0.045 is expected to be rolled out in 2007.
The story is here: http://www.siliconstrategies.com/story/OEG20030115S0048
I found it to be a great article.
Technology is so interesting these days.
First, they've really accelerated their Itanium (IA-64) roadmap. The first dual-core (physically two processors in one) chip was originally scheduled for 2007, but was bumped up to 2005. They've also added a new chip for 2004 release (with 9MB of L3 cache -- the 6MB version is due out this summer). The story: http://news.com.com/2100-1001-980898.html?tag=fd_top
Second, they've announced some very encouraging financial numbers. They made $1B in net profit in Q4 2002 (this includes acquisition costs, it was $1.1B prior to those costs). This is 16 cents per share. At the same time, they've announced next year they're going to curb their (massive) capital spending budget to between $3.5B and $3.7B (down ~$1B or so) as they upgrade fabrication plants and build new ones. Particularly impressive is how far their costs of production for each chip have dropped. They've also managed to gain even higher marketshare from AMD in Q4. The story: http://news.com.com/2100-1001-980610.html
Thirdly, and much more technical (and therefore interesting), is Intel's update on their process technology. Intel's strategy over the past couple of years is to go gung-ho on capital spending, spending billions of dollars on upgrading their fab plants and process technology because they knew their competitors wouldn't be able to do that in an economic slump. Intel's been producing 0.13 micron chips for a long time now (8 months?), and AMD has been having some major problems with it by comparison (they've only been mass-producing chips on 0.13 for a couple months).
Intel plans to migrate to 0.09 micron in the second half of this year when they launch the Pentium 5 (Prescott), and AMD won't move there until 2004 sometime at the very earliest. Probably more like Q2 2004.
But it's already making great progress on the 0.065 micron process! It's announced it's already started making the 0.065 masks (which are used to fabricate the chip) and expects production of consumer 0.065 parts in 2005. That's a magic date.
It now looks pretty much guaranteed that IBM, Sony, and Toshiba will be stuck with the 0.09 process for the next generation of video game consoles to work with, while MS now has access to 0.065. That means MS will be able to make its chips smaller, faster, cooler, and cheaper. That could make a very big difference economically and in terms of console power.
0.045 is expected to be rolled out in 2007.
The story is here: http://www.siliconstrategies.com/story/OEG20030115S0048
I found it to be a great article.
Technology is so interesting these days.
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