At CeBIT in Hannover yesterday, Intel Corp ran a simulation of its much anticipated Merced processor, and demonstrated several chips due out next year. Intel claims Merced will be a pretty significant change to what has gone before. The company plans to introduce Merced on a 0.18 micron process, going well beyond the 0.25 micron process it introduced toward the end of last year. Intel says it already has early silicon in 0.13 microns also. The 0.25 process is apparently being ramped up to make this year’s volume chips, which will include a 400Mhz Pentium II chip for desktops and a 266Mhz Pentium II for mobiles. By the end of the year, Intel reckons it will have desktop chips at 450Mhz and portables at 333Mhz. Merced is expected to run at 600Mhz or more. Intel also demonstrated its 266Mhz Celeron chips, due in the next couple of months, aimed at the sub-$1,000 market opened up by Cyrix Corp (see separate story).
