Samsung is about to begin volume shipments of the latest version of the Alpha processor. The company added that it expects to make $100 million in sales of the new CPU throughout 1999. The chip will also form the mainstay of the companies non-memory semiconductor business, and will spearhead Samsung's strategy to reduce its reliance on DRAM sales. The third-generation Alpha is twice as fast as the previous release, said Samsung. It also contains features, accessed through APIs for Windows NT and various forms of Unix, that improve the playback of audio and video streams. The first shipments of the new CPU have gone to Compaq, with whom Samsung recently formed the Alpha Processor organisation, a body tasked with developing and marketing the Alpha chip. Samsung began volume production of the second-generation Alpha last year, and entered the Alpha business in 1996. In addition to next year's $100 million sales target, Samsung said that over the next five years, it hopes to net $1.5 billion in Alpha sales. ®