AMD unveils processor and strategy for notebooks:K6-2 in Q1 99
By Margaret Quan
NEW YORK — In a push into the notebook
computing market, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
has rolled out the AMD-K6/300 microprocessor
and a mobile processor road map that extends
through the first half of 1999.
In addition to a 300-MHz K6 optimized for
notebooks, AMD revealed plans to release two
new K6 processors by the first half of next year.
The K6-2 unit will be available in early 1999. A
design named Sharptooth will take aim at high-end
notebooks.
Some analysts said AMD's entry into the notebook
segment shows it has moved past its manufacturing
difficulties and is poised to ramp production for
desktop and notebook processors, but others
were less than impressed by AMD's road map and
what its implications for the company's ability to
compete with Intel.
Martin Booth, product marketing manager for
AMD's Computation Products Group, said in a
teleconference briefing that AMD is taking aim at
notebook computers because they represent the
PC market's fastest growing segment. AMD's
newest mobile chip is designed for performance-
and feature-rich systems that will cost $1,999 or
less, he said.
AMD eventually expects its sales into notebooks
systems to parallel the market share that
notebooks have in the total PC market, and to
represent 20 percent of AMD's total chip sales,
Booth said.
The K6/300, a sixth-generation K6 design, is a
0.25-micron device that consumes less power (6.6
watts at 2.1 volts) than the corresponding desktop
version. AMD boosted the temperature tolerance
of the chip from 70¡C to 85¡C. Two types of
packages will be offered: a pin-grid array for
Socket 7 systems; and a ceramic BGA for small
form-factor, thin and lightweight designs.
The K6/300 will cost $229 each in volume. With
its introduction, AMD lowered the price of the
K6/266 mobile processor to $159 apiece.
Design wins for the device have already been
announced. Compaq Computer Corp. will
introduce two Presario notebook models this week
based on the K6/300, and AMD said other OEM
announcements are expected soon.
AMD is positioning the K6/300 as its
performance-value chip for the notebook market,
stating that it outperforms Intel's Tillamook mobile
processor. AMD said its K6/233 mobile and
K6/266 mobile processors are comparable to
Intel's Tillamook designs.
Looking forward, AMD said its K6-2 and
Sharptooth chips will be manufactured in
0.25-micron technology. That process will be
enhance to enable chips that reach higher speeds,
Booth said. AMD did not reveal the speed grades
of the two future mobile designs, but said they will
feature Superscaler MMX technology and AMD's
3D Now technology. The K6-2 will have a
100-MHz bus connection to off-chip L2 cache.
The Sharptooth will have 256 kilobytes of on-chip
L2 cache.
The K6-2 mobile device will be positioned against
Intel's mobile Celeron and Tillamook products as a
solution for 3D multimedia notebooks. AMD is
already working with multimedia chip set vendors
to help optimize designs for notebooks powered
by the K6-2. Those designs are expected to come
to market in the first half of 1999.
AMD expects to make a rapid transition from the
production of the K6 to the K6-2 in early 1999,
just as it transitioned from the desktop K6 to the
K6-2 in about one quarter.
The mobile Sharptooth design will compete against
Intel's Pentium II Dixon chip. Sharptooth with be
AMD's first mobile design with on-chip L2 cache.
Intel's Pentium II Dixon will also reportedly have
on-chip L-2 cache.
AMD expects the mobile K6-2 and Sharptooth to
coexist in the market throughout 1999, while the
K6/266 mobile design moves into the mainstream,
Booth said. Low-priced notebooks now in the
channel and using the K6/233 device will go away
by the fourth quarter, he said.
Up to this point, AMD has had a small presence as
a supplier for notebook computers, primarily
because its output of 266-MHz and 233-MHz K6
processors was limited due to manufacturing
difficulties. Those problems are now in the past,
according to AMD.
AMD said its 3D Now Technology, which
supports enhanced multimedia features, gives it a
nine-month lead in processor performance for
notebook computers. But Intel will move ahead of
AMD in 1999 if it moves the Pentium II
processors to 0.18-micron technology, said Tony
Massimini, an analyst with Semico Research
(Phoenix). The finer process technology will allow
Intel's mobile processors to operate at lower
voltages and higher frequencies, which will make
them more competitive for the notebook market,
where low power and speed are critical.
"AMD needs to have 0.18 micron on their road
map if only because 0.18-micron technology will
increase yields and would allow AMD to operate
at lower voltages and higher frequencies,"
Massimini said.
Without the finer technology, AMD will continue to
be stuck selling lower priced processors and will
face low quarterly revenue, Massimini said. The
company will only be able to push its way up the
price-performance curve by increasing
performance, he said. |
