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1993-08-28
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INTEL BEGINS SHIPPING ITS FIFTH-GENERATION PROCESSOR
Pentium(TM) Microprocessor Delivers
112 Million Instructions Per Second
SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 22, 1993 -- Intel Corporation, the world's
largest semiconductor company, today began shipping its fifth-generation
processor -- the Pentium(TM) processor. The Pentium chip continues the
company's record of providing top performance processors that maintain
100 percent compatibility with over $50 billion worth of installed
software used throughout the world.
Intel microprocessors serve as the "brains" for over 70 percent of
the world's 100 million installed personal computers. The Pentium
processor performs 112 million instructions per second (MIPS) making it
five times more powerful than the original Intel486(TM) microprocessor
(today's most popular PC microprocessor), or over 300 times faster than the
8088, the brain of the original IBM PC. The chip contains 3.1 million
transistors, compared with 1.2 million transistors for the Intel486 chip.
The Pentium processor will provide increased computing power for
users of high-end applications such as high-volume client/server
applications, complex financial analysis, computer-aided design and
engineering programs. The increased computing power of the Pentium
processor will also make a host of new applications such as full-motion
video, voice recognition and imaging on personal computers a reality.
"The Pentium processor represents a new generation of power for the
Intel architecture. The Pentium processor will enable the best
price/performance systems in the marketplace," said Albert Yu, senior
vice president and co-general manager of the Microprocessor Products Group.
"The Pentium processor will run all the current software without
modification and with a substantial performance improvement," added Paul
Otellini, senior vice president and co-general manager of Intel's
Microprocessor Products Group. "Using new high-performance tools and
compilers that have been developed in concert with software vendors, new,
even greater levels of performance will be possible as software developers
optimize their products to run on the Pentium processor."
Intel will ship hundreds-of-thousands of Pentium microprocessors
in 1993. "Pentium processor volume will pass the million mark in 1994
and we would expect the Pentium chip to be the 'processor of choice' for
personal computers in the mid-nineties," said Otellini.
New Technology
The Pentium processor is manufactured using Intel's 0.8 micron,
three-metal layer BiCMOS process technology. The chip is available in 66
and 60-MHz speeds. The Pentium chip's design features superscalar
technology, two five-stage execution units that allow it to process two
instructions simultaneously, two 8K on-chip caches (high-speed memory),
and a fully compatible floating point unit that is up to five times faster
than an Intel486 DX chip at the same clock speed.
The Pentium chip also incorporates a number of additional advanced
design techniques that can dramatically improve application software
performance. One such technique is called "branch prediction" where
the chip remembers prior instruction pathways and predicts the correct
pathway for a new instruction to follow.
Upgradability
Many of today's personal computers that use Intel486 DX2
microprocessors will be upgradable to Pentium processor technology in the
future. An OverDrive(TM) Processor, based on Pentium processor
technology, will be available in 1994 allowing PC users to increase their
systems performance without having to replace their computer.
Name Change
In naming the fifth-generation of its compatible microprocessor line
the Pentium processor, Intel departed from tradition. It breaks a string
of CPU (central processing unit) products from Intel dating back to the
late 1970s that used numerics (8086, 286, 386, 486). Pentium uses the
Greek work for five "pente", as its root to associate with the fifth-
generation of compatible microprocessors from Intel, and uses "ium" a
common ending from the periodic table of elements. Thus the Pentium
microprocessor is the fifth-generation, a key element for future computing.
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is an international
manufacturer of microcomputer components, modules and systems.