Word: microprocessors
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...YORK CITY: Intel's prediction of weaker-than-expected second quarter earnings sent the stock plunging in early trading Friday, dragging many other tech-stocks with it. Citing surprisingly weak demand for its microprocessor chips, Intel suffered a 14.5 percent drop in morning trading on the Nasdaq exchange. By the end of trading, the stock made up more than half its loss, finishing down $12.27 at $151.50 "Investors have a tendency to oversell and overbuy stocks when there is especially good or bad news," said Charles Boucher, an analyst at New York-based UBS Securities. "On a negative announcement from...
...case, however, is considered unlikely ever to reach a jury, which would be about as capable of unraveling the programming parentage of a modern microprocessor as it would be of figuring out which Sierra mountain stream was the source of a glass of water taken from San Francisco Bay. In fact, some observers think the suit's lasting legacy could well be revision of a body of patent law increasingly inadequate to handle the staggering intricacies of digital technology...
Digital's surprise assault was impeccably timed: the previous week Intel had celebrated the launch of next-generation chip Pentium II. And the day of Digital's suit, microprocessor upstart Cyrix quietly filed its own patent-infringement claim against Intel. Digital followed a day later with full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and San Jose Mercury News. Wall Street took the bait, wrist slapping Intel's soaring stock down $6 and backslapping Digital up $2 in the belief that the microchip David wouldn't rile Goliath unless it had a really, really good case...
...week's end analysts were asking whether the Digital action was an honest plea for justice or just the bared-fang attack of a cornered and wounded animal. The tottering hardware giant had bet heavily on its $2.5 billion Alpha microprocessor to return it to prosperity. Alpha is unquestionably the fastest chip on the market, but its speed hasn't overcome Intel's marketing clout. In 1996, according to Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Mercury Research, Intel shipped some 65 million Pentium chips, or 76% of the microprocessor market, compared with 200,000 Alphas. And this year looks grimmer still: 18 million...
...microprocessor is the most complex man-made creation in history," says Michael Slater, principal analyst for MicroDesign Resources, based in Sebastopol, Calif. "Everything is built on everything that went before. It's a continuous stream of new ideas...but none of these ideas are broad. The broad ideas are almost all IBM's." Hey, maybe Big Blue ought to be calling its lawyer...