Intel Corp., the world's largest maker of computer chips, on Wednesday began selling the Pentium Pro, representing the sixth generation of a chip family that dates back to 1979 and is the main component of personal computers.
"It's son of Pentium, the next generation," Daniel Klesken, an analyst with Robertson, Stephens & Co. in San Francisco, said of the new chip.Pentium Pro, which has been known in the computer industry by the code name P6, will first be used in powerful computers aimed at businesses. But eventually, the chip will give home PCs better ability to handle multimedia and other power-hungry software.
Big advances in computer chips occur about every three years, with a doubling in power that cuts price per processing unit. Intel's new chips get a lot of attention because PCs are based on them, but makers of memory chips and other kinds also work at the same pace.
Pentium Pro has 5.5 million transistors, compared with the Pentium's 3.1 million. The first chip runs at 150 megahertz but is expected to be followed by increasingly fleet Pentium Pros, exceeding 250 MHz next year.
Pentium, while now available at speeds up to 133 MHz and soon 150 MHz, was first released in 1993 at a then-blistering 60 MHz.
Intel's chips have a product life of about five to six years, though that time is shrinking. During the July-September quarter, the Pen-tium outsold its predecessor 486 chip for the first time. In the past, the overtaking of an old chip by a new one has taken three to four years.
That acceleration is a sign of the pressure Intel feels from rivals like Cyrix Corp. and the soon-to-be-merged Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and NexGen Corp. Cyrix and NexGen have Pentium rivals, and NexGen has designed a Pen-tium Pro competitor.
"I think Intel always has to worry about competition, and one of the things that makes them a great company is they do worry about competition, and it makes them run harder," said Mark Edelstone, an analyst with Prudential Securities Research in San Francisco.
The new chip delivers more performance than its predecessor because it makes decisions about how to carry out multiple instructions in an efficient order. Pentium merely carries out instructions in the sequence they were given.
Intel has declined to reveal pricing or other details until Pentium Pro's formal unveiling in San Francisco on Wednesday. Several PC makers - including IBM, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Dell - also are going to announce new computers with the chip. Several large systems makers, including Unisys and Data General, will also use it on bigger machines.
Shoppers for home PCs shouldn't expect to see Pentium Pro on those any time soon.
"I think the Pentium is going to be the product of choice clear through '95 and '96," Klesken said. "But the Pentium Pro . . . you'll find in both in the desktop and notebook in the '97-98 time frame."
But analysts also say Intel could be challenged by the fact that Pentium Pro's internal design works best with heavy-duty operating programs such as Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT and IBM's OS/2. Pentium was maximized for the consumer-oriented Windows, which was recently revised as Windows 95.
Cyrix and NexGen say their next-generation chips do a better job of running programs written for the more popular Windows.
But, because of the large volumes it has achieved with previous chips, Intel has cost advantages over its rivals.
"One of the competitive advantages observers forget about is manufacturing," Edelstone said. "These are . . . very complex, large chips that take a tremendous amount of capability to produce in high volumes, and that I believe is Intel's primary advantage in the market."
Intel, which keeps building chip factories, is working on Pentium Pro's successor, which has the code name P7, in collaboration with Hewlett-Packard.