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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DRBES who wrote (79818)	11/13/1999 6:47:00 PM
From: Jim McMannis	Respond to of 1579680

More evidence that something is wrong, very wrong... Sorry if someone already posted it... RE:"PC manufacturers encountering Pentium III shortages By Ken Popovich, PC Week Online November 12, 1999 11:40 AM ET Computer users with a need for speed are apparently running into a speed bump. Major PC manufacturers are reporting shortages of Intel Corp.'s fastest processor, the 733MHz Pentium III, spurring some delays in PC deliveries. An executive at Micron Electronics Inc. said the shortage has become a daily frustration for him and is forcing the computer maker to "juggle a lot." Lyle Jordan, Micron's senior vice president of worldwide supply chain operations, said he's constantly in contact with Intel executives about the latest Pentium III chips. "I actually talk to them every single day, and I never do that [with suppliers]," Jordan said. "It's something that in my two years at Micron I haven't experienced." Dell shipping 'limited numbers' Dell Computer Corp. is also experiencing delays with deliveries on the top-end Pentium IIIs. "There is a shortage of Coppermine chips as of right now," said Ken Bissell, a spokesman for the Round Rock, Texas, company. "We continue to ship limited numbers of Coppermine [PCs] and hope to increase shipments as Intel raises their allotments [of chips]," Bissell said. Recently, Salomon Smith Barney analyst Jonathan Joseph was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying he was getting "multiple reports" that the chip maker was having manufacturing problems that were making it difficult for Santa Clara, Calif., company to meet its commitments. Micron has one advantage over other PC makers. While its rivals wait for delivery of Intel's 820 chip set, which should optimize performance on 733MHz Pentium III PCs, Micron is already shipping systems with a competitive chip set. "I think other people are using the Coppermine chip at 700MHz because they're using the 810E motherboard due to the [820] chip set delay by Intel," Jordan said. "Because we use the Via [Technologies Inc.] chip set, our product is performing at 733MHz." On deck: 820 chip set On Monday, Intel will announce deployment of the twice-delayed 820 chip set, which, when combined with Rambus Direct RAM, allows the 733MHz chip to operate at its optimal performance. But PC makers aren't sure when a steady stream of new systems featuring the 820 chip set and top-end processors will be available. Aside from the daily appeals to Intel for chips, Jordan said, "the other discussion that goes on is about how long is the window that we have to live with this." An executive at another PC manufacturer said Intel hasn't been forthcoming with answers. "They won't relate to me whether it's a yield problem, they won't relate to me that their fabs are just totally consumed because the low-end Celeron demand has skyrocketed. They won't say anything," said the executive. Intel spokesman George Alfs cited the deployment of chips by Dell and Micron as evidence that the high-end chips are being delivered, but he also said that the company was striving to fulfill large orders from computer manufacturers. "Demand in the fourth quarter, historically, tends to be very strong as you lead up to Christmas. And this year is no different," Alfs said. "We are meeting our forecasts [for chip production]," Alfs said. "It would be nice to have an unlimited amount of product so that we could meet everyone's needs immediately. "We plan to ship millions of Coppermine in the fourth quarter, so we ship a lot of product . . . and there's just a lot of demand out there for these new products," he said.