Intel 2003:
New Technology Update and Product Review
By David Thomas
Founded in 1968 to build semiconductor memory products,
Intel introduced the world's first microprocessor in 1971. For more
than three decades, Intel Corporation has been a building block for
the computing and communications industries with chips, boards, systems,
and more. Data from industry analyst firm Mercury Research indicates
that Intel has shipped more than one billion x86 CPUs since that time,
sparking a new era of computing and communication solutions.
Intel makes chipsets, which perform the essential logic
functions surrounding the CPU, for computers, servers, and workstations.
Intel also makes motherboards, which combine microprocessors and chipsets—the
key subsystem of a PC or server.
Intel has 12 fabrication facilities and 12 assembly and
test facilities worldwide. In 2001, Intel spent $7.3 billion on capital
investments to help build manufacturing capacity and increase manufacturing
efficiency. Four fabrication facilities now operate using 0.13-micron
manufacturing process technology. This process shrinks line widths on
silicon transistors to just 1/1000th the width of a human hair, which
increases processor performance while requiring less power and lower
cost per chip. Intel also began the manufacturing conversion from 200mm
silicon wafers to 300mm silicon wafers. Chip fabrication costs on 300mm
wafers will be at least 30 percent lower than on 200mm wafers. Intel
also spent $3.8 billion on R&D. Intel Labs, the R&D arm of Intel,
is comprised of more than 6,000 researchers and scientists in labs around
the world.
Though best known for its Pentium and Celeron microprocessors
– about four-fifths of all new PCs have them – Intel also makes flash
memories (where it's also ranked #1 globally) and embedded semiconductors
for the communications and industrial equipment markets. Most computer
manufacturers use Intel processors; PC giant Dell is the company's largest customer.
In a very bold move Pixar Animation Studios, which brought
the world "Monsters Inc." and "Toy Story," switched
from Sun Microsystems to Intel-based servers. Industrial Light and Magic
(ILM) has also joined the empire, at least in terms of hardware. Intel-based
Dell systems running Linux were used for the bulk of its animation and
special effects work. ILM began experimenting with Intel-based workstations
when working on "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace,"
and used them extensively in "Episode II: Attack of the Clones."
The conversion process took about nine months. The company also used
these machines on "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"
and "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."
Find out more about Intel Corporation and its line of products
at the June 24th meeting of the DMA®. (Writers note: So,
why was Intel President Paul Otellini a VIP guest of Apple at CEO, Steve
Jobs’ keynote address at Macworld in January? hmmmmm)
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