Hi Paul,
First, thank you for the value you and Jules add to this thread. In my opinion, SI should be paying you two for bringing people in.
I enjoyed your hypothetical about Merced's possible selling price of $3,600. Someone else said they had heard 5K. I realize no one knows at this time.
Lets just assume its in that range for conversation purposes.
It's my understanding that Merced is a much more complicated chip, with a CISC/pentium section, a RISK section, and other cells with EPIC circuits....and what, maybe 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 transistors.
1) If this is the case, how much more difficult is it for Intel to produce a chip of this complexity?
2) Any estimation of what it might cost to produce it?
3) Care to guess at the margins we might see?
4) What are you thoughts on how Merced will be able to compete against IBM mainframes? Can it compete against only the lower level, or all IBM has to offer?
5) Is breaking into the mainframe business more difficult because businesses already have the software to use on an IBM system? Is replacement business possible, or is obtaining new business the more likely route?
thanks for your time,
Lee |
