Intel battles rumors

Intel battles rumors

By Therese Poletti

Mercury News


Intel said Thursday that it was not experiencing heat problems with its newest manufacturing process, seeking to dispel rumors about why it suddenly canceled its next desktop computer chip.

Last week, Intel scrapped the microprocessor, code-named Tejas, and another chip for computer servers, code-named Jayhawk. The company will switch to a different technology that places two microprocessors on one chip.

Responding to a question from analysts, Intel President and Chief Operating Officer Paul Otellini said the company did not abandon Tejas because of any problems with chips that overheat.

``There has been a lot of speculation that we have thermal issues,\'\' Otellini said. ``Let me dispel that. We don\'t.\'\' He added that Intel\'s new Pentium M mobile chips introduced earlier this week were manufactured on this same process used for Tejas and they are not generating excessive heat. The mobile processors, however, are also running at lower clock speeds, which means they produce less heat.

As Intel continues to add more transistors to increase performance, chips get hotter as more electrical current runs through them. The chips leak current, even when they are not being used.

``I never thought it was a heat problem,\'\' said Peter Glaskowsky, an independent chip analyst in Cupertino. Glaskowsky said Tejas was the first chip to come out of an Intel design team in Austin. ``It was already far behind schedule and they gave up waiting for something to come out,\'\' he said.

Intel\'s Otellini also said that Tejas\' demise did not mark the end of the core design of the latest Pentium 4, code-named Prescott, which was launched early this year.

``There has been some speculation that Prescott was the end of the line, after the cancellation of Tejas,\'\' Otellini told analysts. ``Nothing is farther from the truth.\'\'

Otellini did not give any more details about the replacement chips for Tejas except to reiterate that they will likely ship in 2005.

Separately, Sean Maloney, who heads Intel\'s communications business, said that the money-losing division will turn a profit in 2005, after several years of continuous losses. He said the company hopes to gain new customers in flash memory and to have better reception of a new chip targeted to the cell phone market.