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To: Dealer who wrote (29521)8/18/2000 4:45:23 PM
From: Voltaire  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 35685
 
To: Don Green who wrote (50314)
From: Don Green Friday, Aug 18, 2000 4:05 PM ET
Reply # of 50316

Intersil Debuts Industry's First Multiple-Output Switching Controller for Next Generation PCs
Story Filed: Friday, August 18, 2000 2:18 PM EST

IRVINE, Calif., Aug 18, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

-- Power management IC provides voltage regulation for
peripherals on Intel(R) Pentium(R)4-based Desktop PCs --

-- Microprocessor peripheral power controller
is for next-generation desktop PCs --
Intersil (Nasdaq:ISIL), a leading provider of power management solutions for PCs, file servers and portable information appliances, today announced the availability of a multiple-output dc/dc controller specifically designed to regulate power to central processing unit (CPU) peripherals in next-generation desktop PCs featuring the Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 processor. The four-in-one controller targets advanced configuration power interface (ACPI)-compliant, next generation desktop PCs.

"Intersil continues to design innovative devices for next-generation computing and information appliances," said Rick Furtney, vice president and general manager of Intersil's Power Management business. "Power management is becoming an increasingly important consideration for systems designers as voltage requirements and power efficiency for PCs grow in complexity. Intersil develops product roadmaps that enable us to anticipate and meet the stringent demands of designers and power management standards to provide reliable, 24 X 7 access to Internet content. In this instance, Intersil continues to lead the industry by providing the first multiple-output dc/dc controller to deliver power to microprocessor peripheral components."

In its booth at next week's Intel Developer Forum (No. 628), Intersil will feature its new four-in-one dc/dc controller that delivers a simple and efficient Pentium(R)4 power solution. When deployed with Intersil's multiphase chipset family, the dc/dc controller provides a complete motherboard power solution comprised of only three integrated circuits (ICs). By regulating the power delivered to microprocessor peripheral components, the device powers those that are required to stay "awake" during the computer stand-by modes. The high-integration level results in a high degree of design flexibility, a short design time, fewer required devices and a low bill-of-materials (BOM). The device is optimized for next-generation chipsets that support the Pentium(R)4 and that interface with high-speed RAMBUS(R) memory.

The ACPI specification allows current and next-generation computer systems to be easily deployed in both the home and enterprise zones. The standard enables computers to transition into an "active state" to perform routine activities. When tasks are complete, the ACPI compliant systems revert to a "sleep state" where they consume less than five watts of power with the ability to quickly return to active mode in a high-efficiency state.

The multiple-output dc/dc controller, Intersil part number HIP6521, integrates one synchronous pulse width modulator (PWM) buck controller and three linear bipolar junction transistor (BJT) controllers. The device delivers high-quality regulated power to embedded application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), central processing units (CPUs), memory cards, computer chipsets and oscillators.

The device drives external bipolar transistors, reducing system cost relative to motherboard regulators that use only metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs). The device requires only a handful of external components to complete a four-output dc/dc converter. Systems designers directly benefit from the up-integration and intelligent design as printed circuit board (PCB) area and surface-mount component placement costs are reduced.

Technical Information

The power management device accepts +5V and provides output voltages as low as +0.8V. Outputs are protected from over-current events and each output voltage is user-programmable by means of an external resistor divider, providing a +/- 2 percent accuracy tolerance. The HIP6521 soft-start is internal and digitally controlled, eliminating the need for an external capacitor. The device requires +5V and +3.3V as input voltages, but also works off +5V when it is the only available supply rail. The device's over-current protection method employs sensing the on-resistance of the upper MOSFET to detect overload conditions. The Rds(on) current sensing scheme results in higher efficiency and lower cost computer and communication system power supplies.

Pricing and Availability

The HIP6521 is offered in 16-pin narrow-body SOIC packages and is available for $2.50 in 10,000 piece quantities.

About Intersil Corporation

Irvine, California-based Intersil uses its semiconductor expertise to enable highly integrated voice, data and video communications. Intersil's integrated communications portfolio includes PRISM(R) Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) chip sets that enable mobile connectivity products for the home and office; analog, mixed-signal and digital integrated circuits for broadband access to wireless and wired Wide Area Networks (WANs); and power management products that enable 24x7 reliability in network servers, next generation PCs and information appliances. For more information about Intersil, visit the company's Internet homepage at www.intersil.com.

PRISM is a registered trademark of Intersil Corporation. Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.

Rambus is a registered trademark of Rambus Inc.
The price information for the HIP6521 in 16-pin narrow-body SOIC packaging contained herein, is subject to change without notice and it is not intended to, nor does it, create any contractual obligations or otherwise. The price information is for informational purposes only and does not reflect our current pricing. Current pricing can only be obtained through Intersil's authorized sales channels.



To: Dealer who wrote (29521)8/18/2000 4:48:53 PM
From: Dealer  Respond to of 35685
 
<font color=green>MARKET SNAPSHOT

Market indexes sag
Chips gain for sixth session

By Julie Rannazzisi, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:21 PM ET Aug 18, 2000 NewsWatch
Latest headlines

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - The major average slumped Friday in a day characterized by choppy action as investors displayed a noncommittal attitude ahead of next Tuesday's Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

"We've gotten rid of a lot of the momentum in the market and a premium is being given to those blue-chip tech stocks that have done well from mid-March until now," said Joe Liro, equity strategist at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates.

Any enduring rally, Liro continued, will need to be built on the technology, financial and oil groups. "But I don't see an enduring rally emerging till mid-October."

Market participants, he said, want to see the economy's performance in the third quarter before committing to the market with more conviction.




Within the market, sellers emerged in the biotech, drug and oil sectors. Upside movers included retail shares, which rose for the second straight session, and paper stocks. Inside technology, chip shares enjoyed more gains on the heels of positive comments from Merrill Lynch. Computer hardware shares eked out minor gains while software issues continued to struggle.

The Dow Jones Industrials Average ($DJ: news, msgs) slipped 9 points, or 0.1 percent, to 11,046.

"We're seeing some consolidation in the Dow Industrials," said Barry Hyman, senior market strategist with Ehrenkrantz King Nussbaum. But the technicals, he said, look great as the blue-chip barometer has broken out in the latest week.

"The background news is good for the market and we're beginning to see a little broadening in the Nasdaq. The semis are again in bullish territory and we're seeing leaders like Sun Micro make new highs," Hyman continued.

Leading on the downside were shares of Philip Morris, Merck, Walt Disney and IBM. Upside leaders included General Motors, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard and International Paper.

General Motors (GM: news, msgs) added 3, or 4.6 percent, to 68 7/16. The company announced that financier Carl Icahn intends to purchase more than $15 million worth, but not more than 15 percent, of GM stock, subject to regulatory clearance. See full story.

Honeywell (HON: news, msgs) climbed 1 1/8, or 3.3 percent, to 35 7/16. Late Thursday, the company announced that it expects third-quarter earnings-per-share will come in at 76 cents, up 10 percent from last year's quarter and in line with the First Call consensus estimate. The company also affirmed its plans to exit non-core businesses. Commenting on the news, Merrill Lynch said it views the activity favorably and recommends purchase of Honeywell shares for patient investors as the risk-reward ratio is very favorable.

The Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ: news, msgs) shed 9 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,931 while the Nasdaq 100 Index ($NDX: news, msgs) fell 21 points, or 0.6 percent, to 3,808.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($SPX: news, msgs) lost 0.3 percent while the Russell 2000 Index ($RUT: news, msgs) of small-capitalization stocks edged down 0.2 percent.

It's double-witching on Wall Street, with options on stocks indexes and individual stocks expiring.

"The current lack of liquidity in the market is creating a lot of extra volatility and outsized moves," said Bill Schneider, at UBS Warburg.

Volume was light 818 million on the NYSE and at 1.44 billion on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Breadth was weak, with losers outpacing winners by 16 to 12 on the NYSE and by 21 to 19 on the Nasdaq.

Separately, Trim Tabs reported that equity funds had inflows of $600 million during the week ended Aug. 16 versus inflows of $8.7 billion in the previous week. Stock fund investing primarily in U.S. funds had inflows of $1.1 billion compared to an influx of $.7.5 billion in the prior week.

Sector movers



Chip stocks plowed ahead for the sixth straight session, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX: news, msgs) up 1.6 percent. The index is up a heady 19.8 percent over the past 6 sessions.

Merrill Lynch's Joe Osha released his quarterly update on the semiconductor industry, upwardly revising estimates for global revenue growth to 40 percent from 32 percent for 2000 and to 26 from 21 percent for 2001. The analyst said expectations for a period of sustained pricing strength in the latter half of the year as capacity restrictions really begin to bite was behind his optimism.

"The concerns that underpinned our mid-cycle correction thesis are beginning to dissipate, and semiconductor stocks globally are well below their March highs. We believe that the mid-cycle correction has ended - we would advise investors to begin buying semiconductor more aggressively," the Merrill analyst said.

Among the names Merrill recommends investors to focus on: Texas Instruments (TXN: news, msgs), Cypress Semiconductor (CY: news, msgs), Atmel (ATML: news, msgs), National Semiconductor (NSM: news, msgs), Analog Devices (ADI: news, msgs), ST Microelectronics (STM: news, msgs), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM: news, msgs) and Chartered Semiconductor (CHRT: news, msgs).

Within the mentioned group, National Semi added 3 3/16 to 45 1/4, Atmel climbed 2 15/16 to 36 1/14, and Analog Devices rose 3 3/4 to 96 1/4.

Agilent Technologies tacked on 9 from its NYSE close to 55 1/2. The company (A: news, msgs), which was spun off by H-P, reported third-quarter earnings of 33 cents a share after the close Thursday. That was well ahead of the First Call estimate of 20 cents a share and the 29 cents a share it earned in the year-ago quarter. Sales rose by 28 percent to $2.7 billion, compared with $2.1 billion in the year-ago period. Bear Stearns upped the stock to an "attractive" to a "neutral." Morgan Stanley Dean Witter raised its October earnings-per-share estimate to $1.31 from $1.17.



Shares of tech bellwether Sun Microsystems (SUNW: news, msgs) put on 3 1/8 to 122 9/16 following the company's announcement after the closing bell Thursday of a 2-for-1 stock split. The stock established a fresh 52-week high of 123 3.4 in intra-day dealings. Sun Micro is a component of the Goldman Sachs Computer Hardware Index ($GHA: news, msgs), up 0.2 percent, and Merrill Lynch's Internet Architecture Index (IAH: news, msgs), which gained 0.6 percent.

Inside the hardware group, Hewlett-Packard (HWP: news, msgs) rose 1 11/16 to 110 9/16, recovering from Thursday's sell-off on the heels of its quarterly report, which beat earnings-per-share forecasts but disappointed on the revenue front. Dell Computer (DELL: news, msgs) shed 3/8 to 38 3/4.

Among the networkers, Ciena (CIEN: news, msgs) shed 1 3/16 to 178, erasing earlier gains, after rallying on Thursday in the wake of its scintillating quarterly results. The Amex Networking Index ($NWX: news, msgs) edged down 0.1 percent while Merrill's Broadband Holdrs (BDH: news, msgs) added 0.9 percent. Corning (GLW: news, msgs) is also a component of the Holdrs, and is adding 5 1/2 to 296 1/2 after climbing on Thursday on the announcement of its 3-for-1 stock split. It touched a fresh 52-week high of 298 3/4 on Friday.

The largest upside moves were seen in the disk drive sector, with the Amex Disk Drive Index ($DDX: news, msgs) up an impressive 9.8 percent. Among the gainers were shares of Western Digital (WDC: news, msgs), up 1 1/8, or 25.7 percent, to 5 1/2 and Read-Rite (RDRT: news, msgs), up 13/16, or 16 percent, to 5 7/8. See related story.

Over in the IPO arena, two stocks in the Internet infrastructure arena made a smashing debut on Friday.

WJ Communications, a maker of components for providers of wireless and fiber-optic communications, tacked on 17 1/4, or 108 percent, to 33 1/4 in its first day of trading. And Peco II rallied 8 7/8, or 59 percent, to 23 7/8. The company makes power systems, distribution equipment, and systems integration products for communications networks. See IPO Report.

Treasury focus

Government prices gained ground in midday dealings, though short-term issues lagged. The fixed-income market has taken a wait-and-see approach ahead of Tuesday's FOMC meeting, even as participants remain unanimous in their view that the Fed will stand pat on short-term rates.

The 10-year Treasury note put on 10/32 to yield ($TNX: news, msgs) 5.77 percent and the 30-year bond added 14/32 to yield ($TYX: news, msgs) 5.69 percent. See Bond Report.

In economic news, Friday saw the release of the June trade data, which posted a deficit of $30.62 billion, less than economists' expectations of a deficit in the order of $30.9 billion. The May deficit was downwardly revised to show a deficit of $30.31 billion compared to the previously reported $31.04 billion. See full story and view Economic Preview, economic calendar and forecasts and historical economic data.

Commenting on the trade numbers, Joel Naroff, chief U.S. economist at Naroff Economic Advisors, said: "You know things are really bad when a $30.6 billion trade deficit is not as bad as feared."

"When you have the strongest economy in the world, you expect to buy from everywhere. If we keep growing at 4 percent or more, imports almost certainly will expand at double-digit rates," Naroff said.

"The only thing that will turn this deficit around is an economic slowdown. It is interesting to see that the dollar is king even as the trade deficit widens. The U.S. is still the best place to invest and the strong dollar has helped restrain inflation," Naroff concluded.

In the currency market, the dollar slumped against the yen after posting healthy gains earlier in the session. The pair (C_JPY: news, msgs) lost 0.1 percent to 108.40 while euro/dollar (C_EUR: news, msgs) slid 1.1 percent to 0.9061. See latest currency rates. The trade numbers initially lent some support to the dollar, giving it a boost against the euro in particular.

Meanwhile, the greenback was buttressed at the start of trading by the quarterly reweightings in the Morgan Stanley Capital Management indexes, which favored the U.S. at the expense of Japan and Europe. In fact, Japan's weighting was lowered to 10.75 percent from 11.04 percent while the U.S. weighting was increased to 49.36 percent from 48.10 percent. And the weighting of the euro-zone economies was shaved just a smidgen to 15.99 percent from 16.19 percent. See full story.

Within the MSCI US Index, 23 securities will be added and on deleted, with focus on the information technology and telecom services sectors. Among the issues to be added are: JDS Uniphase (JDSU: news, msgs), Broadcom (BRCM: news, msgs), Ariba (ARBA: news, msgs) and Siebel Systems (SEBL: news, msgs).

In the commodity arena, September crude added 5 cents to $31.99, ending higher for three straight sessions, while the Bridge/CRB index edged up 0.29 to 220.58. See related story.

Julie Rannazzisi is markets editor for CBS.MarketWatch.com.