Vepoc - Since you asked, I just happen to have posted the answer a couple days back on the Intel thread. Intel has the capabilities to do it themselves. Actually, Cyrix is the company that has pushed 'system on a chip' the loudest from what I can see.
John
To: nihil (68685 )
From: John Koligman
Tuesday, Nov 17 1998 6:17PM ET
Reply # of 68826
Intel altering it's stand on integration???
Intel gives in to chip
integration
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
November 17, 1998, 12:05 p.m. PT
LAS VEGAS--The low-cost PC phenomenon will drive Intel to put
more of the PC inside its chips.
Integrated processors--a move that Intel has criticized and avoided
in the past--will be coming out of the company in 2000, said a
company executive here at Comdex, escalating a push to make its
chips more competitive.
The integrated chips will be for low-end computers, said Paul
Otellini, vice president of server architecture at the company, a
segment where Intel has recently lost market share.
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The company is now facing unsettling market share incursions as
AMD and National Semiconductor's Cyrix arm capture more and
more this crucial turf. For instance, more than half of the sub-$1,000
desktop retail PC market has gone to AMD in recent months,
according to market research houses.
More evidence of this was provided yesterday when Compaq rolled
out new consumer PCs with high-speed Internet connection
technologies such as DSL (digital subscriber line) modems. Three of
the four new models came with AMD processors. The one high-end
system used an Intel processor.
Intel's plan is to take features typically found in other chips in a PC
and combine them with the main processor, said Otellini.
"In 1999 you well see integration of a lot of functions on the
chipset, and in 2000 you will see integration between the processor
and the chipset to take advantage of the transistor budget," Otellini
said.
"We are not willing to live with the [market] share we have," he said.
"We will win the business back [model] by [model], company by
company."
The move is interesting in the fact that Intel has said several times
in the past that it was not interested in integrating additional
functions onto the processor itself, a concept that has been touted
by National Semiconductor for the past few years.
Intel has hesitated to do this in the past because different chip
technologies move at different speeds. Graphics chips, for instance,
have been increasing in performance faster than microprocessors in
recent years. So, integration of a graphics chip into the more slowly
evolving main processor, for example, could hamstring computer
vendors seeking the best in available technology, although
integrated chips as a whole are cheaper.
But in the low-end PC market this is a realistic option because
consumers buying these machines tend to be less fussy about
having the absolutely latest and greatest technologies in their
systems.
"The K6-2 is the highest price-performance processor for the
consumer," said Rod Schrock, a senior vice president in charge of
the consumer products group at Compaq, who spoke glowingly of
the performance of this low-cost chip. Intel also has a new low-cost
Celeron chip on the market which Compaq has used on other
systems in the past.
So far, the Media GX processor from National's subsidiary Cyrix is
the only integrated microprocessor on the market. The Media GX,
among other functions, combines graphics and communications
functions onto the processor.
Intel sources in the past have said
the company will integrate
functions, such as 3D graphics, into
companion chips--called
chipsets--but have generally stood
against integrating functions into
the main processor itself. Otellini's
statements, however, indicate that
Intel has decided to go down the
integration path with processors as
well.
Part of the move to integrated chips comes from the fact that
Intel will be using the more advanced 0.18-micron
manufacturing process by then, which can squeeze more
transistors onto each chip.
Integration will likely help shave costs for PC makers
because they will no longer have to include a separate
graphics or modem chip. And, in this market, every dollar
counts. The difference in cost between a complete
motherboard and chip solution based around AMD
technology and a solution based around Intel is around $2
in AMD's favor. If cache memory is counted, Intel is cheaper
by around $7 to $10, he said.
Despite losing market share, Otellini said that sales of
Celeron processors are doing well. Sales quadrupled from
the second quarter to the third quarter, and will double again
in the fourth quarter.
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