Intel Is Unveiling New Chips in Bid To Defend Its Lead

Intel Is Unveiling New Chips in Bid To Defend Its Lead

By Stephen Kreider Yoder, Staff Reporter
The Wall Street Journal

March 3, 1992

Intel Corp. said it plans to unveil several new microprocessors today, some of the first in a barrage of new chips that it plans to announce this year in an effort to defend its lead in microprocessors.

Intel will show several new versions of its 486 chip, which is used as the brains of some of the fastest personal computers, said Paul Otellini, general manager of Intel's microprocessor-products group. Intel's objective, in part, is to fill gaps in its line of microprocessors that are easily exploited by rivals cloning its chips.

With the new chips, "you have a top-to-bottom spectrum in 486 desktops," said Mr. Otellini. "There's no hole left."

One new version, the 486DX2, uses a technology that doubles a chip's internal speed while allowing the chip to "talk" to the rest of a PC at a slower speed. The chip's inner clock ticks at 50 million cycles a second, or megahertz, but the chip exchanges data externally at 25 megahertz.

Intel's aim is to offer PC makers a boost in speed, while not requiring them to build the more expensive circuitry that faster microprocessors typically require. The 486DX2 will list for $550 each, the same price as Intel's 486 that runs at 50 megahertz internally and externally and 31% more than Intel's 25 megahertz 486.

But PCs using the new chip, while running software only about 15% slower than the all-50-megahertz chip, will range in price from $3,000 to $5,000, compared with $5,000 to $8,000 for 50 megahertz machines, Mr. Otellini said. Compaq Computer Corp. of Dallas and Taiwan's Acer Group said yesterday they plan to sell machines using the chip.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., also plans to announce versions of the 486DX2 chip that computer owners can use to upgrade some existing 486 machines. Intel will show a 66 megahertz 486 chip, which it plans to ship in the second half of 1992. And the company will discuss low-voltage versions of its low-end 486SX chip, aimed at use in notebook PCs and other portables.

In national over-the-counter trading yesterday, Intel shares jumped $2.25 to close at $65.75.