Armonk, New York, Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- IBM Corp. will begin distributing new high-speed, copper-based chips for desktop and mobile computers that the world's largest computer company is counting on to boost its microprocessor sales.
IBM will ship two variations of its copper-enhanced 400 megahertz chip. The PowerPC 750 features cache, which speeds up processing, and is targeted at desktop and mobile computers, and networking and telecommunications devices. The cache-less PowerPC 740 is designed for handheld devices.
Armonk, New York-based IBM said last September that it had perfected copper-based computer chips. The advantage is that copper conducts electricity better than the current chip standard, aluminum, and therefore provides faster performance.
''It gives them quite a boost in an industry where the software is stable and processor improvements are worth paying for,'' said Richard Doherty, research director at Envisioneering Group Inc., a Seaford, New York-based research firm.
The copper chips -- designed from an aluminum-based 300MHz chip -- will be slightly smaller and consume 58 percent less power than current PowerPC processors, IBM said.
''What's most significant is that they got copper out a year after they announced it, '' said Tony Massimini, an analyst with Semico Research Corp., a Phoenix-based research firm. ''It makes copper very credible.''
IBM's plan to make copper-based chips in large volume for other companies by late next year will help boost revenue, analysts said.
The copper chips and IBM's recently announced Silicon-On- Insulator technology will likely fuel double-digit sales growth in IBM's microelectronics division over the next 12 months, Doherty said.
IBM next year will use copper in processors running its most powerful computers, including the S/390 mainframe, the AS/400 and the RS/6000.
IBM's biggest customers initially for the copper chips will be Apple Computer Inc., analysts said
The chips should give Cupertino, California-based Apple ''the hottest, most sought-after workstations around,'' Doherty said, and shore up Apple in the desktop publishing market.
Apple could not be reached for comment.
IBM shares fell 9 15/16 to 112 5/8. Apple shares fell 3 to 31 3/16.
17:07:30 08/31/1998 |
