Samsung Increases Alpha Production

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November 30, 1998 (8:11 AM EST)

By Staff,

Samsung Electronics said Monday it has begun volume production of a third-generation Alpha RISC processor as part of its efforts to reduce its dependency on memory chips and to make further inroads into the microprocessor market.

Samsung said it has set a target of $100 million in sales next year for the Alpha product.

The South Korean chip giant said it has begun shipping the new Alpha processor to Compaq. The third-generation Alpha is capable of processing data at twice the speed of the second-generation RISC chip introduced last year, according to Samsung. Earlier, the company said its fastest 21264 Alpha chips were running at 600MHz.

In addition to higher data-processing speeds, the third-generation Alpha contains features for audio playback and real-time video under Microsoft's Windows NT and other operating systems. The new Alpha chip is aimed at the latest high-performance PC servers and workstations, according to Samsung.

Earlier this year, Samsung created a U.S. joint venture with Compaq -- called Alpha Processor (API) -- to help it expand Alpha product offerings and revenues.

During December, Samsung said, it expects the Alpha processor offering to bring in over $3 million in sales. Its target has been set for $100 million in 1999 and $1.5 billion over the next five years.

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