Saturday January 5, 2:24 AM
Intel readies speedier Pentium 4 chips
sg.news.yahoo.com
Intel, the world's leading manufacturer of computer chips, is scheduled to launch a new line of speedier Pentium 4 chips Monday which will clock in at a record 2.2 gigahertz, company sources said.
The new chips will be created with the Santa Clara, California manufacturer's new so-called "130 nanometer" manufacturing process, a reference to the average size of a component on the chip. Currently, chips components average 180 nanometers.
Reduction in chip component size, which include the microscopic transistors that process data, usually correspond with chips that run cooler and are cheaper to manufacture. Computer chips are the "brains" of a computer and its most expensive component.
The new Intel chips, code-named "Northwood," will allow Intel to continue its price war with AMD and other rivals. That competition has seen the price of speedy desktop computers dip below the 1,000 dollar mark last year. That contest also severely cut into chip manufacturer profits.
The Intel announcement will come a week after The Semiconductor Industry Association, an industry trade group, reported a rise in global semiconductor sales during November.
The association said November chip sales were 10.60 billion dollars, up 1.6 percent from 10.44 billion in October.
It was good news for a sector that has seen a brutal downturn in fortunes, with an overall sales plummet of 31 percent predicted for the whole of 2001, the worst year ever for the semiconductor industry. |
