Intel to Cut Chip Prices Next Month

Chip maker will cut prices on its top-selling Pentium 4 line as well as its Celeron and Xeon processors.

Intel Corp. next month will initiate a new round of price cuts on its top-selling Pentium 4 line as well as its Celeron and Xeon processors, according to sources.

The cost cutting will start Nov. 10 with the introduction of a new 2GHz Celeron processor and coinciding price reductions in lower-speed versions of the brand that is targeted at what the Santa Clara, Calif., company calls "value desktops," or PCs costing $800 and less.

The 2GHz chip with 400MHz front-side bus and 128Kb of L2 cache will be introduced at $84. Meanwhile, the current top-speed Celeron will drop 17 percent, from $84 to $70, the 1.7GHz will fall 20 percent, from $69 to $55, and the 1.4GHz with 100MHz front-side bus and 256Kb of L2 cache will drop from 28 percent, from $74 to $53. Prices are based on 10,000 unit shipments.

On Nov. 14, Intel will release its fastest chip to date, a 3.06GHz Pentium 4 that will also feature the first appearance of its performance-enhancing hyperthreading technology in its flagship desktop brand. The 3.06GHz chip will debut at $627, while the current speed-king, a 2.8GHz version of the chip, will slip 22 percent, from $508 to $398. The 2.66GHz and 2.6GHz with 400MHz front-side bus will both be reduced 24 percent, from $401 to $304, each.

On Nov. 17, the giant chip maker will lower prices on its enterprise-class Xeon processors. The 2.8GHz Xeon with 400MHz front-side bus will fall 21 percent, from $562 to $443, and the 2.6GHz with 400MHz front-side bus will also be reduced 21 percent, $433 to $339.

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