Intel will begin making minor price reductions on its Pentium III family as December comes to a close, and will begin to move towards retirement all of its 0.25 micron chips with broader price cuts in January, industry sources have reported.
"We normally do price cuts every so often," Intel spokesperson George Alfs said. "But we don't confirm those price cuts publicly until they happen, although we understand how info can be leaked through OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and whatnot."
The Intel price reductions have been fuelled by advances from both Intel and closest competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) towards a 1GHz processor.
Intel plans to demonstrate a 1GHz IA-32 processor sometime in early 2000, although sources say the highest clock speed on the Coppermine track will likely be an 866MHz PIII by the end of Q1, 2000.
AMD plans to have a 1GHz processor in the market by "the second half of 2000", company officials said.
Before the release of the 0.18 micron PIIIs, AMD priced its chips approximately 25 per cent below that of comparable Intel chips. Now that the two companies are running neck and neck for processor speeds, AMD is following Intel pricing more closely.
