IBM Corp yesterday started shipping the first of its copper chips to Apple Computer Inc, with copper chips not due to appear on its own servers before 1999. The first copper chips to be mass-produced for Apple are the PowerPC 750 400Mhz processors, which will be followed up in the first quarter of next year by the PowerPC 740 — coming in versions with clock speeds of up to 400MHz for embedded applications. The PowerPC 750 chip, developed with Motorola Inc, differs from PowerPC chips used in IBM’s AS400 and RS/6000 systems as well as those used in IBM’s System 390s. Processors for IBM’s servers will be available as prototypes before the end of the year, before shipping on machines in 1999. Plans include a follow-on to the System 390’s G5 chip, which will be available in a copper 0.18 micron version next year.
