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

To: andy kelly who wrote (44628)	1/9/1998 1:46:00 PM
From: Paul Engel	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 186894

Andy - Re: Merced will be available in "1999". Have there been any hints as to early or late in the year, or do you have an educated guess at this time?" My guess is around the second quarter of 1999 for the Merced roll out. In February of each year, the ISSCC (International Soild State Circuits COnference) is held and that venue is generally used as the technical platform to release circuit/architectural details of new devices. Of course, many companies also present results of R & D studies, blue-sky projects, etc., that never make it to market. Anyhow, this ISSCC will allow Intel to divulge technical specifications as a means of building "momentum" prior to the actual product Merced launch. Thus, the anticipation, the ISSCC presentation, rumors and myriad of press "pre-releases" should all help to build momentum for the formal product launch - again probably in the second quarter of next year. As for Intel's schedule - they are working under extreme pressure to complete all layout and implementation details, run design/layout verification, final simulations, and complete design rule checks (DRC's) with a goal of "Tape Out" by around May of THIS year. Bear in mind that Intel's Technology Development group is also trying to complete their 0.18 micron process development project in order to manufacture the Merced. This in and of itself is a major task. (I would expect that Intel will be running a 0.18 micron version of Deschutes or Mendocino or Katmai as a process Roto-Rooter - expect more on that later this year.) First silicon should be in hand by mid-year - giving Intel time for silicon checkout, verification and design fixes. My guess is they are targeting at delivering samples to key customers before the end of 1998. Paul