The WSJ article--sure sounds like Intel could use Cube.
This article may say more about the apparent impending relationship between Intel and Cube than Intel's graphics chip announcement. Some of the article's headlines:
"How the Competition got ahead of Intel in making Cheap Chips"
"Giant's PC Focus Blinded it to Burgeoning Market in Consumer Electronics"
And a few quotes from the article:
"It (Intel) has missed, or is at least very tardy in recognizing, a fundamental change in the market, one driven by advances in the chip industry it dominates: The ability of Intel's competitors to create much cheaper microprocessors and place more of the functions of a machine on a single chip is igniting a boom in consumer electronics."
"The 'convergence' of computing and consumer gadgets is the talk of both industries' trade shows."
"The most glaring example of Intel's plight is the all-out bidding to supply chips for Tele-Communications Inc.'s order for five million digital set-top boxes, aimed at launching the age of interactive television>"
"Intel is trying to catch up in the consumer-electronics market."
"Intel has $9.9 billion in cash. . . ."
"Right now, the company is selling older, cheaper, Pentium microprocesssors for sub-$l,000 PCs, but rivals Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. and National Semiconductor Corp. have taken 22.8% of that market segment.....Intel has to start streamlining its chips and putting more functions on them, in order to prepare for a future of $600 PCs."
Seems a simple solution for Intel to jump start its efforts in the consumer electronics/set top area by looking to Cube. Ron. |
