<font color=orange>McKinley Tape-Out, Itanium Cop-Out? (INTEL)
Posted By Brian Neal
Thursday, September 28, 2000 - 11:54:24 AM
Thanks to Tim and Chris, who wrote in about this Register piece reporting that McKinley (second-generation IA-64) has already taped out. Throughout its seven year design-span, Intel's Itanium has seen repeated delays, even going so far as to declare the chip's first introduction a test launch. Performance questions have also plagued IA-64, especially regarding the chip's inability to reach its target frequency of 800 MHz and Intel's reluctance to release real benchmark information.
With production Itanium systems already delayed until the middle of next year, it is very possible we won't see this chip at all, especially if Intel and HP have advanced McKinley's schedule:
Sources close to Intel said that its next generation of IA-64 processor, codenamed McKinley, has already taped out, a term which means that the chip company has advanced its plans for the chip by a clear 12 months.
But the source at Hewlett Packard, who declined to be named, also said that meant corporate America, by far the largest putative consumer of such a microprocessor, has forced the decision on Intel by rejecting its Merced-Itanium as unsuitable, even as a pilot system.
While Itanium is up in the air, the question becomes, can they do any better the second time around?
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