Brian and All,
Intel Faces New Challenge - by year's end, Pentium II 233 MHz should fall to about $100.00 U.S. dollars.
NEW YORK (Jan. 6) XINHUA - Intel Inc., the world's largest computer
chip maker, is feeling the first real threat to its chip dominance.
Compaq, the world's top PC maker, unveiled today three new low-price PC models containing chips made by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Intel's chips will be relegated to pricier machines. And Packard Bell-NEC, the leading maker of PCs for U.S. consumers, plans to shift from its Intel-only strategy and ship Cyrix-based PCs this year, according to Computer Retail Week.
AMD and Cyrix routinely undercut Intel's prices by at least 25 percent. The companies now have just 15 percent market share. But the fast growing market of under-1,000 U.S. dollar PCs is forcing manufacturers to turn to less expensive central processing units (CPU), the brains of PCs.
Market analysts said that AMD and Cyrix could double their combined
market share to 30 percent by year's end if there is the market demand. Intel, however, has an inventory of about 3 million in unsold
processors, due to "massive cancellations of notebook chips." Some
analysts cited the sluggish Asian market, particularly Japan, the
second-largest computer market in the world, as one of the reasons for
the notebook chip stockpile.
Experts also said that challenge is forcing Intel to slash prices. The company last week said it's dropping the price of its 233-megahertz Pentium II chip by 33 percent to 268 U.S. dollars. By year's end, the tab should fall to about 100 U.S. dollars, bringing the Pentium II into the sub-1,000 U.S. dollar PC market.
P.S. From the news of Houston Chronicle of Jan. 6, 1998, a CPQ's $2,499.00 notebook that also uses the AMD-K6 233Mhz will be available by the end of Jan.
Best wishes
James |
