Intel Corp will ship two faster Pentium 4 chips to personal-computer makers earlier than forecast and cut prices on older chips to try to increase sales in the holiday season, a person familiar with the plans said.
The world's biggest maker of semiconductors said July 16 that PC sales last quarter extended a decline that began in late 2000.
Intel's Pentium 4s, which are more profitable than lower-priced processors, may lure buyers and bolster the company's profit margins, analysts said.
"Intel is trying to pull every trick it can to get PC buyers off the sidelines and back into stores spending money," said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at research firm Insight 64.
Intel said earlier this year that the Pentium 4 chips would be available by the end of this year. Company spokesman Robert Manetta declined to comment on the production schedule.
The company's sales dropped 21 percent in 2001 amid the chip industry's steepest decline in history. Intel plans to trim the prices on older Pentiums in the next several weeks, the person familiar with the company's plans said.
Salomon Smith Barney analyst Jonathan Joseph in a research report said the company will cut the price of its Pentium 4 processor running at 2.53 gigahertz by 63 percent on Aug. 25, citing lists Intel distributed to customers.
The price cuts, which originally were planned for Oct. 27, will be implemented across most of Intel's Pentium 4 line, and will average 26 percent, said Joseph, who rates Intel "buy" and doesn't personally own the shares. Manetta declined to comment on Joseph's report.
Intel plans to introduce its 2.8 gigahertz Pentium 4 on Aug. 25, ahead of the fourth-quarter timeframe the chipmaker forecasted earlier, Joseph said. A 3 GHz chip will be shipped in time for the holiday selling season.
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