Intel denies Pentium II supply problems

Chip giant Intel has denied that there is any shortage of its CPUs. That follows a claim from US company PC Connection yesterday that its results were affected by changes in Intel's manufacturing schedule. But a UK distributor has confirmed that Intel products are on allocation until the end of the year. An Intel representative said that as far as he was aware, there was no difficulty in supplying parts to the market. Mark Davison, processor product manager at Datrontech UK, said: "Pretty much all the parts are on allocation. That's good because it means business is strong." He said there was a probably a shortage of the low end parts, but if companies thought ahead and bought carefully, there wasn't a problem getting stock. "The 333MHz part, which is currently the entry level Pentium II, will disappear before the end of the year," Davison said. "It will be replaced by the 350MHz Pentium II at the bottom end of the market, ignoring the Celeron chips. Smart people are buying the 350MHz chip now," he said. Davison said the rapidly changing situation in the marketplace meant companies had to order carefully. "I don't sell processors any more," he said. "I sell green bananas and I've got to get them onto the market stall before they go off." ®