Intel Corp has confirmed a report in the San Francisco Chronicle that it will delay introduction of its Pentium microprocessor until May, but denies the paper’s assertion that it is holding the chip back to exploit demand for existing 80486 products. Intel says that it will describe the chip in detail on March 22, and announce limited shipments to customers, but will not put a price on it until after May 20. It says the move is to prevent demand building up for announced machines that vendors cannot ship because of shortage of parts. The letter to manufacturers estimates that personal computers based on Pentium will list for $5,000 for desktop models and $7,000 for mid-range systems. It also asks customers to refrain from talking to the press about Pentium-based machines or product prices until May 20 and warns that it might cut off supplies of the new chip to trangressors.
