SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- In a move to hedge its bets, Intel Corp. is reportedly developing a 32/64-bit microprocessor technology that could appear in the market if the company's current 64-bit chip line continues to show lackluster results, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News today.
Intel is reportedly developing what it calls "Yamhill Technology," which is designed to compete against the upcoming "Hammer'' family of 64-bit chips from archrival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., according to the San Jose Mercury News.
According to the daily newspaper in Silicon Valley, Intel has a small team in Hillsboro, Ore. that is reportedly working on the technology. Intel officials declined to comment on the reports.
"Yamhill" appears to be a 64-bit technology that also runs existing 32-bit code. "The Yamhill features are being built into the next version of Intel's Pentium chip, code-named Prescott, with an option to turn the features on or off," according to the report. "In 2003 or 2004, when the Prescott chip is expected to be available, Intel will evaluate AMD's offerings and the success of the Itanium and then decide whether to activate the Yamhill code," the report said.
The report was referring to Intel's current 64-bit processor, dubbed Itanium, which was rolled out last spring. The chip was co-developed by Intel and Hewlett-Packard Co. at a reported cost of $1 billion.
But Itanium was two years late to the market, and so far, has been a major disappointment in terms of sales for Intel, analysts said. Many OEMs are now waiting for the next-generation Itanium chip, code-named McKinley (see May 25 story ).
In the meantime, AMD is making a lot of noise about its own 32/64-bit processor line, dubbed Hammer. That chip is expected to show up in the market in early-2003, according to analysts.
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