Microprocessor Report notes that at $38, IDT’s 250MHz WinChip 2 is now the low-price leader in the Intel-compatible market. It is cheaper than Cyrix’s M II-300 and is the first company other than Advanced Micro Devices Inc to implement AMD’s 3Dnow multimedia instructions. The chip has been delayed by nine months while IDT switched fabs from a San Jose, California plant which it closed down, to its Hillsborough, Oregon facility. It took longer than expected to get the process up and running in Hillsborough. WinChip 2 is an enhanced version of IDT Centaur Technology’s C6 design. IDT is building WinChip 2 and 3 in its own plants; IBM will manufacture WinChip 4, which will be IDT’s shot at the entry-level of the mainstream PC market. WinChip 3 samples are expected this month with production in August, the report says.
