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To: AK2004 who wrote (4551)	8/11/2000 12:35:30 PM
From: semiconeng	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 275872

One question - why would pIII be produced then to begin with since the demand for p4 would surely outpace the supply and p4 would carry higher price tag to make up for the size? Regards -Albert I think that you partially answered the question yourself... cost. By my best estimates, the Lithography Steppers that intel currently has, will only be able to "shoot" 1 Willamette die per "field", vs. 2 die per field for CuMine. Steppers shoot small sections of the wafer, before stepping over to the next location to "shoot" the next field. A "field", is the area on the wafer that the reticle Mask can cover. Because of CuMines die size, each "shot" can cover 2 CuMine die, vs. 1 die per shot for Willamette. Therefore, throughput will be effectively cut in half, until Willamette can be shrunk on subsequent steppings. There is a certain amount of product that needs to be run through a new Fab, and/or process, in order for intel to "Qualify" a process and/or product for shipment. Qualifying the 0.13u process on a product that has 1/2 the throughput of another product would take twice as long. I don't know what the demand on Willamette is going to be. My impression of the 1GHz+ market, is that sales are very small at those levels. Maybe due to price, or whatever, but if demand outstrips supply for Willamette, intel will be able to keep the ASP's of Willamette high, while dramatically shrinking the size, and cost of CuMine. Doesn't sound like a bad plan to me. SemiconEng