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To: Ms. Baby Boomer who wrote (11624)	11/20/2003 11:53:20 AM
From: Ms. Baby Boomer	Respond to of 14451

Intel commits $36 million to supercomputer R&D By Rick Merritt EE Times November 20, 2003 (9:30 a.m. ET) PHOENIX — Intel Corp. announced during the Supercomputing 2003 conference here that it will spend $36 million over the next three years on R&D to fuel use of its Pentium and Itanium processors in high performance systems. The Advanced Computing Program will fund work on clusters and large multiprocessing systems using Intel's off-the-shelf processors. The initiative comes as the U.S. government is backing development work by Cray, IBM and Sun Microsystems on new supercomputer architectures. Details of the Intel program are still scarce. But Rick Herrmann, a manager in Intel's new high performance computing office, said it will focus on a variety of systems and software projects including programming models for multithreaded CPUs, power and thermal packaging for small form factor systems and interconnects such as Infiniband. "We want to accelerate the use of volume technologies in high-performance computing," Hermann said. Systems and software companies such as Hewlett-Packard and SGI are expected to join then Intel program as well as academic and government labs, Herrmann said. Separately, Intel has created a new parallel and distributed solutions division. The unit brings together programming tools for clusters, grids and so-called constellations of large symmetric multiprocessing systems. The tools stem from a small handful of acquisitions Intel has made in the area. eetimes.com

To: Ms. Baby Boomer who wrote (11624)	11/20/2003 1:18:32 PM
From: Ms. Baby Boomer	Respond to of 14451

UPDATE - Intel CEO sees rebound in semiconductor industry Thursday November 20, 12:44 pm ET NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Intel Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:INTC -News) chief executive, in some of the most optimistic comments to date about the technology sector, said on Thursday he saw signs of improved demand by business customers. "Hopefully, we'll start to see some enterprise growth in 2004," Craig Barrett said of the U.S. market. "We've seen some sprinkling signs of that, but I don't expect a major, major upgrade cycle. I do think we'll see increased investment in the U.S. going forward." The comments are slightly more optimistic than the company's outlook in October, when Intel executives expressed caution over the pace of corporate technology spending while saying consumer spending was picking up. On Thursday he told investors at an analysts' meeting that he was looking forward to "relatively robust growth" in the industry for semiconductor chips -- which form the brains of personal computers -- after a three-year downturn. He also said he saw "indications around the world of a regrowth of information technology." Intel, whose microprocessors run four out of every five personal computers, is a bellwether for technology spending. Shares rose 11 cents to $32.63 on Nasdaq on Thursday. The Santa Clara, California-based company expects to reduce cost per die -- a key measure of production costs -- down 25 percent in the fourth quarter versus a year ago. Intel has gained ground against its rivals by seeking more efficient chip production. Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant said greater demand has allowed Intel to cut costs even more than expected over the summer, when a tech rebound was not yet in sight. "Cost is better because of fuller factories," he said. Intel expects to cut those costs by another 25 percent over the next two years. The company said it was on track to ship more than 100,000 Itanium processors in 2003, which investors said was more than they had expected. Itanium processors are based on a 64-bit design, enabling them to process more data at once than common 32-bit chips. They are used in computers sold by Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ - News), as well as Silicon Graphics Inc. (NYSE:SGI - News) and Unisys Corp. (NYSE:UIS - News). One institutional investor believes Intel may be running out of chipmaking capacity after three years during which the sector saw many factories left idle or closed. "They sounded very optimistic and bullish too. I think they are very happy," Graham Tanaka, of Tanaka Capital Management. Barrett repeated the company's forecast of double-digit growth in revenue and earnings per share in the fourth quarter. biz.yahoo.com