All,
AMD announcement of 300mhz portable K6 chip from in WSJ this morning. I haven't followed AMD portable chips that closely. Is this something really new or just a turn of the screw and a good marketing blast?
interactive.wsj.com
Larry
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New AMD Chip May Cut
Notebook-Computer Prices
By DEAN TAKAHASHI
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has developed a chip that could help drive down prices for portable computers, offering comparable performance to archrival Intel Corp. for about one-third the price.
AMD, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., will announce Tuesday that it is shipping a microprocessor for laptop machines that operates at 300 megahertz, the same speed offered by Intel's fastest chip for the portable market. AMD said customers for the new product include Compaq Computer Corp., the No. 1 personal-computer maker, and other manufacturers that it isn't yet identifying.
David Summer, director of product marketing, said the new K6-300 will sell for $229, compared with $637 for Intel's 300-megahertz Pentium II. Where computers based on those Intel chips sell for more than $3,000, AMD estimated that K6-based portable computers will sell for $1,999 to $2,499 this fall.
Intel has been forced to cut prices rapidly in chips for desktop computers, but its stronger position in laptops has given it more latitude in that market. Intel earlier this month cut prices on its portable chips by 12% to 34%, but it left the price for its fastest 300-megahertz Pentium II chip unchanged. Analysts said the competition from AMD and others will help change that.
"There is no question that notebook prices are coming down," said Cameron Duncan, analyst at ARS Inc., a market researcher in Irving, Texas. "I think you'll see more impact next year and a reaction from Intel to speed the introduction of new technology."
An Intel spokesman declined to comment, other than to say "we welcome competition." The company is developing its own new mobile products as well, he noted.
National Semiconductor Corp.'s Cyrix subsidiary, as well as start-up Rise Technology Corp. are also targeting the portable market in addition to AMD. Rise Technology, based in Santa Clara, Calif., is expected to unveil its plans next month at the Microprocessor Forum conference in San Jose, Calif.
Intel's Pentium II line is generally considered better at handling multimedia functions than an AMD K6 chip operating at the same speed. In the first quarter of 1999, however, AMD plans to up the ante again when it introduces a mobile version of an even more powerful chip, the K6-2, which has built-in graphics capabilities.
That version will represent a departure for AMD in competing with Intel. To date, AMD has simply developed chips that fit into the same sockets as Intel's chips, allowing AMD to take advantage of Intel-developed technology such as main system boards.
Next year, AMD plans to introduce its own additional technology, such as faster data pathways and memory, that enables the K6 to stay competitive. Mr. Summers predicted that AMD's schedule should enable computer makers to introduce sub-$1,500 portable machines early next year. |
