Cyrix Jumps Intel's Interface For New Chip

Welcome Guest. | Log In| Register | Membership Benefits

October 14, 1998 (7:39 AM EDT)

By Mark Hachman,

National Semiconductor's Cyrix will not apparently adopt the "slot" interface used by competitor Intel's Pentium II microprocessor, according to an industry analyst.

Michael Slater, president of MicroDesign Resources, in Sebastopol, Calif., said Cyrix's third-generation microprocessor, code-named Cayenne, will adopt the Socket 7 interface when it ships in 1999. Cyrix and National officials were not available for comment.

Now, Cyrix's M II microprocessors use the Socket 7 interface, a microprocessor bus structure and connector used by Intel's now-discontinued Pentium processor.

Chip makers such as Advanced Micro Devices, Integrated Device Technology, and Cyrix identify themselves as Socket 7 microprocessor makers and have aggressively promoted Socket 7 as a cheaper -- though high-performance -- alternative to the P6 bus used by Intel's Pentium II and its Slot 1 connector. In addition, newer Socket 7 chips use a 100-MHz bus to the rest of the PC system; Cyrix and others term this bus Super 7.

But Cyrix has also waffled about whether to design chips for Socket 7 or the Slot 1 interface. "A year ago, Cyrix said it may or may not do either Socket 7 or Slot 1," Slater said. "Just in the last day or so, they've told me they will do a Cayenne part for Socket 7."

Slater and MicroDesign Resources are hosting the Microprocessor Forum, an industry conference that began Monday, when Cyrix and its competitors were expected to present their product road maps of future parts.

The part will be called the M II+, Slater said, and will ship in the spring of 1999, using the Super 7 bus.

Cyrix said it also plans to add a graphics core to the M II+, producing an integrated processor-graphics chip more powerful than its similar MediaGX chip Cyrix is now shipping. But that chip, which Cyrix has code-named Cayenne, has been delayed, Slater said. Originally planned for release near the end of 1998, the Cayenne product will now ship in April 1999, he said.

Slater said Intel's P6 bus is also protected by patents, forcing competitors to have their microprocessors manufactured by companies that have existing patent cross-license agreements with Intel. Fishkill, N.Y.-based IBM Microelectronics owns such a cross license and used to manufacture Cyrix's microprocessors. But though Cyrix still has an open option to manufacture chips at IBM, Santa Clara, Calif.-based National Semiconductor has pledged to manufacture all of Cyrix's chips at its own South Portland, Maine, facility by year's end.

National's plans for Cyrix may also still be in flux, however. Brian Halla, National's CEO, was expected to further detail the company's strategy in the forum's keynote address Monday morning.

"National's goals for Cyrix are very confusing," Slater said. "National's long-term future is integrated chips, systems-on-a-chip, but they're apparently going to pay the bills in the meantime [with discrete chips]."