Jim Christie
SAN FRANCISCO: Chipmaker Intel Corp. on Monday introduced five
microprocessors that it said would boost performance and lengthen battery life
of laptops, raising the stakes for upstart chip designer Transmeta Corp. and
rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Frank Spindler, Intel's executive vice president and general manager of its
Mobile Platforms Group, said the launch of the Pentium III processor-M products
represented a "milestone in mobile computing" because of the energy
savings produced by the new chip line.
"We see it as a generation-like leap in capabilities for mobile
PCs," Spindler said. "Every major system manufacturer is adopting
this." The mobile Pentium III processor-M will provide almost a 50 per cent
gain in performance on data-intensive applications over the previous mobile
Intel Premium III, the company said.
Intel said its new processor will be available in mobile PCs made by Acer
America Corp., Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp., Fujitsu Corp.,
Gateway Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., International Business Machines Corp., NEC
Corp., Sony Corp., and Toshiba.
Rival Advanced Micro Devices has said it is aiming for a 50 per cent share of
the US retail market for laptop computers. Transmeta, meanwhile, has succeeded
in convincing major Japanese laptop maker to use its power-saving Crusoe chip in
laptops.
Shares in Transmeta ended down almost 9 per cent on the Nasdaq after the
Intel announcement taking aim at its niche market. Santa Clara, California-based
Intel also launched a new chipset - which works with the microprocessor to help
run the computer - that it said will allow laptop-makers to design better
performing notebooks that are thinner, lighter, and have longer battery life
than those now available.
The chips are made using so-called 0.13-micron process technology, in which
the circuitry lines are thinner than those in chips made using 0.18 technology.
This newer process means Intel gets more chips from a single silicon wafer and
also more transistors can be crammed onto a single chip, boosting performance,
and also cutting power use.
The chips run at up to 1.13 Gigahertz, Intel said, and is available in large
quantities. Intel said that the 0.13 micron Pentium III chips use 40 per cent
less power and are as much as 20 per cent faster than the previous 0.18 micron
process.
Chips made with 0.13 micron technology contain circuitry that is about
1/1000th the width of a human hair. Paul Otellini, executive vice president of
the Intel architecture group, said research into smaller, faster, and more
energy-efficient chips for laptops has been led by demand in Japan, where
laptops account for roughly half of all PCs sold.
The Japanese market also is pioneering designs of increasingly smaller
desktop PCs, Otellini said. Intel's new microprocessors have begun shipping and
should appear in laptops soon, he said.
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.