IBM sampling Cu Alpha's...
(does Intel still fab Alpha's?)
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IBM sampling copper-based Alpha MPUs to Compaq
By David Lammers and Rick Merritt
EE Times
(07/27/99, 03:52:46 PM EDT)
N.Y. ? IBM Microelectronics has started making Alpha microprocessors with copper interconnects for use by Compaq Computer Corp. The work is said to be just a piece of a broader partnership deal between the two companies.
James T. Vanderslice, vice president of IBM's Technology Group, confirmed a report first published by Computer Reseller News earlier this month, stating that IBM will make
Alpha chips for Compaq as part of a wider alliance. Vanderslice characterized the manufacture of Alpha chips
under license from Compaq as a "high-end foundry deal" that
is part of a more important agreement still to be signed.
IBM is currently making only sample quantities of copper-based Alpha CPUs for Compaq, said an IBM spokesman, who confirmed that a broader deal between the two companies has not yet been signed.
The agreement could have significant repercussions for Samsung Electronics, which claims to be a major supplier of Alpha processors to Compaq. Samsung plans to apply silicon-on-insulator and copper-based process technologies to its production of Alpha processors next year to produce parts that could hit speeds above 1 GHz. But IBM may be able to hit those speeds this year with its copper technology, which it has already applied to yield fast PowerPC microprocessors t used by Apple Computer Inc.
So far this year, IBM's Technology Group has struck major sourcing deals with Dell Computer and Acer for its chips, hard disk drives and displays, and with Nintendo for an integrated PowerPC to be used in Nintendo's next-generation video game console. Vanderslice said the heart of these deals goes beyond their multibillion dollar sourcing figures to a deeper design cooperation between the companies. These include work on an integrated PowerPC for Nintendo's gaming machine, and on another integrated device for Acer that will target information appliances.
In the case of the agreement with Dell, "the management of both companies has said to their people, 'Go work with the people from the other company to figure out how to meet the
market requirements,' " Vanderslice said. "If we were just selling hard drives, displays and ASICs into Dell, I couldn't feel the power of that alliance," he said.
Repair work
Separately, Vanderslice said IBM is working to mend a split with Motorola over the technology road map for the PowerPC. Motorola last year announced a significant extension, dubbed AltiVec, to the PowerPC instruction set aimed at multimedia applications. IBM initially said it would not support the AltiVec instructions but would instead focus on producing fast CPUs with copper interconnects. That split has put Apple, the largest customer for PowerPC chips, in a tough spot, as it is currently unable to get second sourcing for some of the fast CPUs it is shipping in this year's systems, or for the AltiVec processors it plans to use in next year's systems.
"There has been a debate between Motorola and IBM about what we are going to work on and what they are going to work on," said Vanderslice. "We are close to solving that but the deal is not completely locked up."
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