Intel To Unveil Fastest Chip In Pentium Line

Intel Corp will introduce on Monday the fastest chip in its original Pentium line, aimed at high-end consumer and business computers, company officials said.

The worlds biggest chipmaker will unveil the 233-megahertz Pentium with MMX technology, the fastest chip in its Pentium line-up, Sam Wilkie, Intels marketing manager for the Pentium processor division, said on Sunday. The chip, which features MMX graphics and sound improving capabilities, will appear this autumn in personal computers priced at $2,000 to $2,500, Wilkie said.

Even though Intel introduced the Pentium II a fast, powerful follow-up to the Pentium a few weeks ago, original versions of the Pentium with MMX are still in high demand among PC makers, Wilkie said.

 

The demand is tremendous, he said. Pentiums with MMX have been moving very fast.

On Friday, Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, warned investors that net income and revenue for its second quarter will be less than Wall Street expected, partly because it cannot make enough of Pentium IIs and Pentiums with MMX.

PC makers, vying to offer the fastest and jazziest machines to customers, have been reluctant to order Intels older versions of the Pentium, hurting the companys short-term sales growth, analysts said.

For the first time in years, Intel also faces serious competition from companies such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Cyrix Corp, which recently introduced chips that work about as fast as Intels top-of-the-line microprocessors but sell for much less.

Intels 233-megahertz Pentium with MMX will sell for about $540 a chip in batches of 1,000, whereas Cyrixs 233-megahertz chip will sell for $320 a chip in quantities of 1,000, according to pricing information from the companies.