Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tony Viola who wrote (121060)	12/7/2000 12:44:43 PM
From: Ibexx	Respond to of 186894

Tony and thread, More good news for Intel - new DSP chips co-developed with Analog Device nearly ready for market. _______ Analog, Intel Almost Ready to Market New High-Speed Chip By: Hiawatha Bray 12/7/00 9:09:56 AM Source: The Boston Globe NEW YORK - Analog Devices Inc. and top chipmaker Intel Inc. say they're nearly ready to harvest the fruits of their two-year-old strategic partnership. The companies announced Tuesday a new high-performance digital signal processor for use in advanced cell phones, handheld computers, and other lightweight digital devices. DSPs are the fastest-growing segment of the microchip market. These powerful but cheap chips are used to process real-world data, such as video images and voices. DSPs are an indispensable part of many electronic devices, including modems, compact-disc players, and cellular telephones. Analog is already enjoying a massive growth spurt in its DSPbusiness, which increased 115 percent during the fiscal year that ended Oct. 30. But the company is still far behind industry leader Texas Instruments Inc., which dominates the market for cell-phone DSP chips. For its part, Intel is eager to branch out beyond its core processor line into the faster-growing DSP business. In February 1999 the two firms set up a joint design group in Austin, Texas, to create a new DSP design, along with the software needed to make the chip work. The finished design, dubbed the Micro Signal Architecture, will be independently manufactured by both companies beginning next year. ``This architecture and its successors will be . . . the road map for our DSP products,'' said Analog president and chief executive Jerry Fishman. The new chip will offer a 300-megahertz clock speed, with later versions to run at up to 1 gigahertz. Unlike current DSPs, the new chip will have built-in power-management features that will vary the speed and voltage of the chip, depending on the task it's performing. Intel and Analog officials said that this could result in 3 to 10 times more battery life. ``You only run the performance level you need for the application you're running,'' said Bob Conrad, vice president of Analog's DSP division. Today's DSPs require nonstandard programming languages, making it costly and time-consuming to design DSP-based devices. But the Intel-Analog chip can be programmed using C(plus-plus), a language known to programmers worldwide. As a result, it should be far cheaper and quicker for companies to design the new chips into their products. Analog and Intel believe the new chip's ease of use, low power consumption, and high processing speed will make it ideal for forthcoming ``third-generation'' wireless devices. These advanced phones and palm-size computers will be capable of sending and receiving millions of bits of data per second, far more than today's portable devices. Ron Smith, vice president of Intel's wireless communications and computing group, said portable devices will need large amounts of signal processing and computing power to handle so much data. Intel plans to use the new DSP as part of a package that will include its low-powered XScale processor and high-speed flash memory chips for storing the data. The company hopes to market this set of chips to the world's top makers of portable devices, while Analog will focus on marketing the DSP chip along with its traditional analog and radio frequency chips. Intel's Smith said that while many electronics firms are taking a look at the new chip, none have yet agreed to build it into their products. Officials at Texas Instruments were less than impressed by the Analog-Intel challenge. ``We're pretty confident of our position,'' said Mike McMahan, head of research and development at the firm's wireless business unit. McMahan said Texas Instruments chips are presently used in 60 percent of digital wireless phones, and he added: ``We're probably two or three years into development on third-generation systems.'' As a result, he said, interlopers like Analog and Intel have a lot of catching up to do. ``Incumbency has a lot of advantages, and (Texas Instruments) has the relationships and the design wins with the existing suppliers,'' said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst with Insight 64 in Saratoga, Calif. But Brookwood noted Intel is a leading maker of flash memory for these same wireless device makers, while Analog has a solid reputation in DSP. Brookwood said the Analog-Intel offering could pose a significant challenge to Texas Instruments' chips as companies begin designing their third-generation wireless products. Analog Devices stock rose $7.19 to $56.12 on the New York Stock Exchange, while Intel rose $3.06 to $36 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Ibexx