Intel: chipset shortage to run through H1 2006

Intel's chipset supplies will remain "tight" throughout H1 2006, CFO Andy Bryant admitted yesterday.

Speaking at the chip giant's manufacturing and technology summit yesterday, Bryant said the supply problems will continue through a "fair portion for the first part of next year", according to an EETimes report.

Bryant said that Intel is looking to begin producing chipsets at its higher-yield, 300mm-wafer fabs during Q2 2006. Currently, its chipsets are produced in its 200mm-wafer fabs.

Intel's chipset shortage emerged early last summer. Then, it said it was shifting the focus of its production efforts on higher-end desktop parts, a move that led some observers to suggest it was pulling out of the low-end desktop chipset market.

In September, Bryant said the company had "sold out" of notebook chipsets, and said the shortage would extend into the "first part of 2006" - precisely the timeframe the company will launch its 945M chipset, a key component of 'Napa', the third generation of Intel's Centrino platform.

Intel is scheduled to ship 'Broadwater', its next generation of desktop chipset, in Q2 2006.

Chipsets are already a key part of Intel's silicon sales, but their importance will increase through 2006 as Intel begins to offer more platform bundles, rather than simply sell discrete chips. ®