Intel Delays New Celerons

Intel, the Santa Clara-based chip manufacturer has pushed back the release date for the 633- and 667-MHz Celeron chips by approximately two months, according to industry sources. The new chips were expected to be available next week. Instead, they will appear in computers toward the end of June, along with the 700-MHz Celeron and 933-MHz Pentium III.

Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices may benefit from this delay. The company stated that it has made several hundred thousand more Athlon processors than it has sold in the past two quarters. Many of these extra chips will likely run at speeds between 550- and 650-MHz.

Many computer makers are deciding to adopt more Athlon processors, due to the long period of Intel chip shortages that have been occuring since October '99. A review of chip prices displayed that 600-MHz Athlon processors are only slightly more expensive than the 600-MHz Celeron chips.

Intel's ongoing chip shortages are due to manufacturing problems, and the underestimation of PC demand last year. "We did not anticipate the level of demand for the first half, especially for microprocessors, chipsets and flash memory," stated Intel's chief financial officer, Andy Bryant.

Celeron chips are designed for cost-sensitive PCs, while still offering enough processing power needed for everyday use.