184mm2 isn't tiny, but it really isn't all that big, especially for the first chip in a new generation. Here are a few other big dies by comparison:
Cyrix 6x86 "Battleship" 100 - 394mm2!, .65µ
Intel PPro 150 - 306mm2, .6µ
Intel Pentium 60 - 296mm2, .8µ
PII 233-300 original die - 230mm, .35µ
NexGen NX5x86 199mm2, .5µ
Cyrix 6x86MX PR266 - 197mm2, .35µ
Cyrix 4x86DX4 - 196mm2, .8µ
Intel PPro 200 - 195mm2, .35µ
On the other hand, it is bigger than some current dies:
Intel Pentium 200 w/MMX - 141mm2 .35µ
Intel PII - 131mm2, .25µ
AMD K6 162mm2, .35µ
AMD K6 300 68mm2, .25µ
AMD K6-3D 81mm2, .25µ
AND K6-3D+ 135mm2, .25µ
IDT Winchip2 58mm2, .25µ
On the whole I'd say that the K7 and PIII dies are pretty small for first generation dies of a chip. At that size the cost to produce them will be quickly under $100/chip, so they could be priced fairly aggressively, say in the $180-250 range, which could make them the main chips in use fairly quickly, should their makers decide to pursue that strategy. If they did push these next generation chips into the mainstream quickly, it could increase wafer consumption by a fair amount. On the other hand, if the chips are priced high to appeal only to high end buyers, the impact will be very small. This latter strategy would be my expectation, but time will tell.
Carl |
