NexGen reduces processor prices

Electronic News, Feb 13, 1995

MILPITAS, CALIF.--NexGen has reduced the prices on all members of its Nx586 Pentiumrival processors by an average 25 percent, attributing the price cuts to the economies afforded by the continuing ramp in production volumes by manufacturing partner IBM. The Nx586 processor, which entered quantity production in September, is currently the only shipping alternative to Intel's Pentium processor, and is expected to ship in the hundreds of thousands of units in 1995.

Effective Feb. 1, the per-unit prices of the Nx586 processors, in 1,000-unit quantities, are: P100, $569 (15 percent under 100MHz Pentiums, according to NexGen); P90, $399 (27 percent below 90MHz Pentiums); P80, $269 (no comparable Pentium); and P75, $239 (21 percent lower than 75Mhz Pentiums).

"Our strategy of offering these products at aggressive prices to enable widespread adoption by mainstream PC OEMS and end-users is working," asserted Dana B. Krelle, Nexgen VP of sales and marketing, adding the company plans a subsequent ramp-up in production of existing Nx586 processors, "coupled with planned die-size shrinks," that are expected to continue to push OEM prices down.

"We have gotten very good production capacity from IBM Microelectronics, and the yield from IBM is higher than we expected. Thus, we can sustain delivery of large volumes of Nx586 processor family members to our customers."

NexGen recently confirmed that as reported earlier (EN, Nov. 21, 1994), it is on track to ship "at least several hundreds of thousands of Nx586 processors in 1995" and that an additional manufacturer of Nx586 processors is expected to be announced this year to address future demand requirements.

In an interview at Fall Comdox last year in Las Vegas, Nexgen revealed it would deliver the first shrink of its Pentium-challenger as early as 1Q95. David Kulbarsh, NexGen's director of marketing, said at that time the first die/speed improvement on the Pentium-class Nx586 will have the same transistor count as the current Nx586, and same package and pinout, but on a significantly smaller die than the current chip, which--at 14mm square--is slightly larger than a Pentium.

The Nx586 processors are manufactured using IBM's CMOS 5L process consisting of 0.5-micron CMOS, up to five layers of metal interconnect and 8-inch silicon wafers. Additionally, IBM's C4 "flip-chip" packaging is used in the manufacture of Nexgon products, whereby the silicon die is attached via solder bumps within the die.