C.J. Holthaus, an engineer at VIA-owned Centaur Technology, told reporters the chip is a "Pentium 4 clone". Like Pentium 4 it will use a deep 18-stage pipeline architecture, allowing it to scale to very high speeds, and other key technologies will also mimic the Pentium 4, Holthaus said.
The chip is based on 0.10-micron technology and is due in 2003 or 2004. update: TheInquirer.net is claiming that the VIA guy who said this is in a bit of trouble, and they are of course now denying the whole thing. Thanks Raziel
Optical connections, which use laser light beams rather than electrical impulses to transmit signals, could solve some bottlenecks because they can run on less power. It won't be cheap or easy, but it might become the lead alternative. Other companies are also looking at organic connections.
Intel (Nasdaq:INTC - news) said that net income before acquisition-related costs fell to $655 million, or 10 cents a share, from $2.89 billion, or 43 cents, a year ago, which included 7 cents a share in acquisition-related costs. Sales declined 25 percent to $6.5 billion from $8.73 billion.
The AMD earnings conference is scheduled for tomorrow.
Packaging has never been one of the glamorous jobs in the chip industry. "It's been the ignored child in the semiconductor family," said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Insight 64. The main function performed by a package is to create electrical connections between the chip and the motherboard.
Once whatever it is gets announced, we'll update it here.
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