Iain Thomson
Iain Thomson

Does Intel still hold the high ground?

The chip giant looks in danger of losing its upper hand in the technology battle

Iain Thomson

There's been a fair amount of debate recently about whether AMD or Intel is winning the ever-present chip arms race.

Based on the experience of this year's Intel Developer Forum (IDF), I'm not sure that Intel can still claim to be in the lead.

Advertisement

As a veteran of these events I'm used to a certain amount of spin. But over the last three days I've heard very little to convince me that Intel still has the upper hand, at least as far as the technology battle goes.

The chip maker has been beaten to the punch on combined 32/64 bit computing, on chip security and now on dual-core processors - and it shows.

After AMD announced last month that it was going dual-core, Intel inevitably fired back that it had plans to go the same way. But AMD looks to have taken the lead, while Intel has been short on detail.

Indeed, that was the theme of this year's IDF event: no-one was talking much.

Certainly there were the usual headline-oriented speeches, but when you try and drill down into specifics Intel's defences were up, and well manned. Even in question and answer sessions presenters pleaded ignorance.

Psychologists use a term called 'cognitive dissonance' to describe the discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you already know or believe and new information or interpretation. And we've seen plenty of it here.

There were titters in the audience as the usually reliable Anand Chandrasekher raved about the graphics capability of the new Sonoma mobile computers while the demonstration screens showed a game playing in what looked close to 1930s stop-motion animation.

Of course, Intel is still the 800lb gorilla in the chip market, and its research and development budget is more than AMD's turnover. But you'd still expect better from the industry leader than Intel delivered at IDF this year.

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Share

Tags:

Do you agree?

Further reading

Intel Developer Forum 2004

Intel Developer Forum 2004

Intel will be looking to regain the dual-core momentum at its developer forum in San Francisco this year. Check out our Special Report for all the news

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Most watched

Xperia X1

Video Review: Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

First Looks Editor Ian Williams gets hands on with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

iPhone

Video Review: iPhone 3GS

We put Apple's latest iPhone through its paces

IT white papers

Search white papers

Top categories

Poll

Poll: Summer smartphones

Poll: Summer smartphones

Which smartphone will you be taking to the beach this summer?

View poll results

Advertisement

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Spotlight

a padlock

Microsoft to plug security holes

Microsoft has given advance warning of a number of security...

Nokia handset

Top 10 articles, 10 July 09

No Nokia Android phone, ActiveX attacks and Google enters into...

Can Google beat Microsoft at its own game?

Google's announcement this week that it plans to step into...

iPhone

Video Review: iPhone 3GS

We put Apple's latest iPhone through its paces

Primary Navigation