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

To: muzosi who wrote (135294)	5/17/2001 1:23:01 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Article...Intel Is Set to Announce a Chip of Many Functions.. May 17, 2001 nytimes.com By CHRIS GAITHER SAN FRANCISCO, May 16 — The Intel Corporation plans to announce on Thursday that its engineers have made a chip that combines the central functions of the next generation of wireless devices onto one piece of silicon, an advancement that Intel says will lead to smaller and faster consumer products. The new technology unites the microprocessor, the brains that power computers, with the communication and flash memory circuits, Intel said. Other semiconductor makers, including I.B.M., have produced these so-called systems on a chip, analysts said, but Intel says it has done so without sacrificing computing speed. Intel, which is based in Santa Clara, Calif., said it would start mass production of the chips in the first half of next year. Using the new chips, device makers can create cellular phones including features of hand-held computers, known as smart phones, that operate five times as fast as today's models yet run for a month between battery charges, said Albert Fazio, principal engineer in Intel's Technology and Manufacturing Group. "We've taken very different types of functionalities and combined them all together," Mr. Fazio said. Intel will show off the experimental chip at the Intel Developer Forum, a trade show that begins Thursday in Amsterdam. The development underscores Intel's increasing emphasis on semiconductors for future generations of wireless devices. In addition, the company is trying to insulate itself against a slowing market for personal computer chips, which made up 76 percent of Intel's sales last year. Most wireless devices require 3 to 10 separate chips to make them run, said Richard F. Doherty, director of research for the Envisioneering Group, a technology assessment and market research firm. Reducing the number of chips allows device makers to shrink the size of the devices while increasing the battery life and computing speed. Last month, I.B.M. announced the availability of a new family of microchips with a mix of fixed and programmable elements that allow customers to design their devices. The company sells the chips upon request, instead of mass producing them for a widely distributed line of chips, said William O'Leary, a spokesman for I.B.M. I.B.M. leads the market for this type of chip, but its factories can meet demand for only the most advanced, ultralight phones, Mr. Doherty said. Intel, however, is resting its wireless future on the new technology and is betting that it can make enough of the chips to overtake the leads of I.B.M. and Texas Instruments to establish the technology as the basic platform for smart phones. "They're going to rev their process expertise into this new opportunity faster than anyone else can catch them," said Mr. Doherty, the analyst. "Intel might own the market in two years."