Intel Notifies Customers Of Change In Merced™ Processor Schedule

Microarchitecture Design and Initial Physical Layout Completed

SANTA CLARA, Calif, May 29, 1998 -- Intel Corporation said today, that it has notified customers of a change in the production schedule of the Merced™ processor. According to the newly communicated schedule, sample volumes of the 64-bit processor are now expected in 1999, with planned production volumes moving from 1999 to mid-2000.

"We have reached a point in the development cycle where the product is really starting to take shape," said Stephen L. Smith, vice president and general manager, Intel's Santa Clara Processor Division. "At this point, we have more precise schedule and product data, which allows us to better understand the scope of the product development, and we have communicated the new schedule to customers and the industry."

The Merced processor will be the first processor in Intel's IA-64™ product family, and incorporates innovative performance enhancing architecture techniques such as predication and speculation.

The Merced processor program has made considerable progress to date, including;

• Definition of the 64-bit instruction set architecture with Hewlett Packard.
• Completion of the fundamental microarchitecture design.
• Completion of functional model and initial physical layout.
• Completion of mechanical and thermal design and validation with system vendors.
• Specifications complete and designs underway for chip set and other system components.
• Excellent progress on 64-bit compiler development and IA-64 software development kits.
• Real-time software emulation capability to speed the development of IA-64 optimized software.
• Multiple operating systems running in Merced simulation environment.
• All required platform components planned for alignment with '99 Merced processor samples for initial system assembly and testing.

Intel's IA-64 product family is expected to expand the capabilities of the Intel® Architecture to address the high-performance server and workstation market segments, and has received unprecedented industry support. A variety of industry players, among them leading workstation and server system manufacturers, leading operating system vendors, and dozens of independent software vendors, have already publicly committed their support for the Merced processor and the IA-64 product family.

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