Despite having a 10-year agreement with Intel Corp that allows it to create its own versions of iAPX-86 microprocessors provided they meet no more than 20% of its requirement for such parts, IBM Corp is risking a major row with the chipmaker by also developing its own clean room variants, Reuters writer Therese Poletti reports. The news wire hears that IBM is developing clean microcode for its own versions of both the 80486 and Pentium. The company would also be free to sell unlimited numbers of the chips on the merchant market, although a legal challenge from Intel seems certain. A spokesman for the IBM Technology Products semiconductor division, said that IBM does not comment on products in development, but analysts said that such a project is indeed in the works, although like all IBM projects, it might never see the light of day. The first IBM designed Intel-compatible chip is about six to 12 months from completion but few details were available. Analysts reckon that relations between IBM and Intel have become strained, in part due to IBM’s plans to assault Intel’s strong position, but both firms said that is not true. That is actually one company we have had a good relationship with, said Michele Bourdon, an Intel spokeswoman: We have a really good relationship with them. But sources said one example of the strain between IBM and Intel is a recent shift in another joint project, the joint design and manufacturing agreement signed in November 1991, under which IBM and Intel were to do new iAPX-86 versions at a design centre in Boca Raton, Florida called the Robert Noyce Development Center. The gave IBM the exclusive right to details about future Intel chips about four months ahead of its rivals, but IBM can the parts only for its own internal designs. The venture has now quietly moved to Folsom, California, near the Intel Pentium plant, and is now focussing on low-power chips for portable computers. IBM is said to be hoping that the clean Pentium effort coupled with PowerPC will make IBM a force in microprocessors.
