Legit Reviews

Intel is likely to officially announce in the next few days whether to delay the launch of its Alviso chipset to the first quarter of next year, one quarter later than it originally planned, according to sources at Taiwanese makers and brand vendors like Dell and Hewlett Packard (HP).

A delay has been expected since Intel informed local makers in late June that it found some problems in the extended VGA functionality of its PCI Express-enabled Sonoma-based platforms, the sources said.

Intel also reported on July 12 that its inventory levels grew by approximately US$427 million in the second quarter, with approximately half of the increase coming from microprocessor inventories, the sources added.

Although it was reported an Alviso delay would affect Quanta Computer's plan to start volume shipments of some wide-screen notebooks in the fourth quarter, sources now say that a delay is unlikely to have a significant impact on any local notebook maker, said the sources.

Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Acer, Asustek Computer and Wistron, have all stated that they are still feeling strong demand from their clients for sales in the second half of this year.

Some makers even expect to receive additional orders for Dothan-based notebooks, using Intel’s 855PM (Odem), 855GM (Montana) and 855GME chipsets.

Intel is expected to lower its CPU prices or give preferential pricing to PC makers due to its high CPU inventory levels, the sources indicated. In addition, some makers said that the delay of the Alviso to the first quarter could stir up fresh demand for new notebooks early next year.