It appears that the clean room version of Intel Corp 80486 and Pentium microcode being developed by IBM Corp is specifically for use in future versions of the PowerPC RISC microprocessor, and is in furtherance of that shadowy project to offer a version of the PowerPC that would plug into Intel upgrade sockets (CI No 2,206). The idea, according to US PC Week magazine, is to come up with a firmware 80486 emulation that will knock the socks off any software emulation for Windows and other iAPX-86 applications. IBM plans to deliver a PowerPC chip containing the microcode-level emulation within two years, sources told the paper. The thinking behind the move is that there is not an awful not more that Intel can do to boost performance within the constraints of iAPX-86 architecture – indeed it has said that the P7 part, the next but one in the progression, will depart from the present architecture, so that IBM’s plan would simply mean it was taking that step ahead of Intel. Moreover, since the IBM plan apparently does not include creating straight clean clones of any Intel microprocessors, while Intel will not like the development very much, it is not likely to reach for its lawyers over it, or to tear up the complex agreements under which it licenses IBM to create its own versions of Intel microprocessor designs and to sell them as board- but not chip-level products, as well as using them in its own personal computers.
