The price of Dell shares fell by nearly $3 on Wall Street yesterday after it issued a report the evening before that shortages of Intel processors combined with Y2K pressures would dent its profits. But that does not mean that Dell will start using AMD parts, according to reports on various news wires across the globe. Dell is following in Gateway's footsteps only to the extent that shortages of some members of Intel's processor family, coupled with a shortage of Rambus RIMMs, had a negative effect on its sales in the leadup to Yule. The company is insisting, however, that it has no plans to use AMD parts in its machines, despite the supply problems. It is the last of the big 10 PC manufacturers not to second source AMD parts. The Dell statement, however, had the effect of flushing out Intel. One wire reported official representatives of Intel in Santa Clara admitting there would be shortages of some members of the Pentium III family, and some Celerons, for the rest of this quarter. Intel, however, was unable to pin down the specific parts which are currently in short supply. Two days ago we reported that both US and European distributors had received notification from Intel that February backlogs of Pentium III processors were effectively cancelled. One distributor at a trade show in Birmingham told The Register that for the first time in recorded history, AMD was setting the agenda for chip introductions and that had thrown Intel's marketing and introduction plans into disarray. ® See also Intel cancels Pentium III supplies for February Intel Pentium II arises from the grave Rambus yields fall to 10 per cent, disties claim Dell last domino to fall to AMD Athlon