Intel plays rough with MPU rivals

Electronic News, Feb 21, 1994

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.--In a two-pronged campaign last week, Intel attempted to increase the pain on PC microprocessor rivals--revealing it has boosted the anticipated speed from 100MHz to 150MHz on a 3.3V Pentium device currently under development, and disclosing that its newest fab in Ireland would produce 6,000 wafers per week.

The Intel volleys, part of a broad move to overwhelm competitors with its Pentium ramp-up projections, were timed to coincide with MPU technical presentations at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Confeence (ISSCC) in San Francisco. At that session, IBM, Toshiba/Silicon Graphics, MIPS Technologies, Hewlett-Packard and NEC offered glimpses of their latest CISC and RISC developments.

At the same hotel as the ISSCC session, meanwhile, Frank Spindler, Intel's Pentium product marketing manager, said Intel plans to roll out 90MHz and 100 MHz Pentiums in the first half of 1994, capable of achieving 100 iSPEC with full compatible performance. A 150MHz Pentium is slated for introduction in 1995. All of the new devices, Intel's first generation of 3V Pentiums, will be manufactured using the company's new 0.6 micron process. The new Pentiums are also expected to drive prices down across the board.

"One of the key messages is that the advent of this class drives every price down. We expect performance to double at every price point in 1994," Mr. Spindler asserted. The company now projects that Pentiums will make up 15 percent of total PC market sales for 1994, and will achieve a 25 percent market share by 4Q94.

Intel during ISSCC was demonstrating the performance of the 150MHz device in its hotel suite and a portion of that demo was also part of the technical presentation made by Joseph Schutz, program manager in Intel's Portland (Oregon) Technology Group. In reportin that Intel had achieved 150MHz speeds on silicon with the 3.3V BiCMOS Pentium, Mr. Schutz was updating the technical paper which still included the 100MHz performance.

Intel's 150MHz Pentium consists of a super-scalar integer unit, a floating point unit, and separate 8Kb instruction and data caches. It is capable of 250 MIPS (drystone) performance and makes use of the company's new four-layer metal, 036 micron technology. In addition, the 3.3V BiCMOS superscalar Pentium features extensive power management functions that will make it suitable for portable and "Green PC" applications, as well as its primary targets--desktop and workstation markets.

"New design methodology explits the four-layer metal process to optimize power and clock distribution, while minimizing die area," Mr. Schutz said in an ISSCC presentation. "Second, a clock distribution and control system allows for selective power-down of portions of circuitry when not needed, including a stop-clock or sleep mode."

The new processor will feature a 163mm-squared die size, .041 watts/MHz power consumption--versus the .196W/MHz of previous 0.8 micron Pentiums--and a flexible clock multiplier that will allow it to operate at multiple performance levels with a common design.

"As a microprocessor frequencies increase, it becomes increasingly difficult for system designers to keep up. This design permits the bus to operate at lower frequency than the internal core," Mr. Schultz said.

Intel's 0.6 micron process design technology offes a 50 percent higher clock rate, 45 percent smaller die size and 80 percent lower power consumption than its previous .08 micron process technology. There are 3.3 million transistors in the 150MHz device, but at least 200,000 are earmarked for future unannounced functions.

Reminded from the ISSCC audience that he (on behalf of Intel) and other vendors have made technical presentations on devices which begged the question of availability, Mr. Schutz demurred that the session was not a commercial venue but Intel policy is to present technical papers on upcoming products. He also said the newer Pentiums are designed to be forward-compatible with future 3V products.

As a backdrop to its technology roadmap. Intel says it is ramping its 0.6 micron process faster than any previous Intel ramp. In 1994, INtel will have three 0.6 micron fabs on-line. Currently, the technology is in production at two factories, its D2 Fab in Santa Clara and its Fab 10--Intel's largest factory--at Leixlip, Ireland, which was officially opened last week. A third 0.6 micron-capable fab, Fab 9, is scheduled to come on-line later this year at Intel's Albuquerque, N.M., facilities.

The new Fab 10 in Ireland will have a production capacity of 6,000 wafers a week, an Intel spokesman said, which, however, won't be reached until the end of 1995. Intel spent $745 million on the 600,000-sq.-ft. plant (with 65,000 sq. ft. of clean space). It currently has 680 employees.

Fab 10 could produce about half of Intel's new Pentium microprocessors this year, said an analyst who attended last week's opening of the facility. Drew Peck of Cowen, Inc., commented that "This year, it's probably going to be averaging something like 1,500 wafers a week, along those lines."