Intel drops Timna as demand drops

Intel has abruptly cancelled its entire line of Timna chips because of further design delays and lack of demand from hardware manufacturers. The vendor will instead focus on expanding its line of integrated graphics chipsets.

Intel has abruptly cancelled its entire line of Timna chips because of further design delays and lack of demand from hardware manufacturers. The vendor will instead focus on expanding its line of integrated graphics chipsets.

Timna was Intel's first integrated chip that combined a processor core, graphics engine and memory controller, and was expected to be shipped in the first quarter of next year.

An Intel representative said that Timna will be replaced by standalone versions of its low-cost Celeron processors, citing "design problems and market conditions" for the decision.

He said there were problems with a necessary companion chip called the Memory Translation Hub (MTH) that would have required another revision, delaying the delivery date by a month. Bugs in the MTH also led to an expensive recall of motherboards based on Intel's 820 chipset earlier this year.

Intel also said its customers had told the vendor they did not need Timna, which was aimed at the sub-$600 PC price range, because that market is already being served by Celeron. Intel's original equipment manufacturers said they were able to make cheaper PCs by combining Celeron with the 810 chipset and other components.

Meanwhile, Intel has pushed back delivery of its Pentium 4 chip from 30 October to 20 November due to a conflict between the processor's 850 chipset and PCI-based graphics cards. The delay means that some PC manufacturers will not be able to deliver systems with the new processor in time for the lucrative Christmas sales rush.

This hitch is the latest in a long line of technical gaffs by the chip giant in recent months. On top of the Timna cancellation just six months prior to launch, a recall of faulty motherboards and the now defunct Pentium III 1.13Ghz have hampered the company.

Intel also stunned Wall Street with a third-quarter profit warning last week, forecasting turnover growth about nine per cent lower than expected.