Intel Corp. has lowered prices for its Pentium computer chips.
The new prices, which went into effect Monday, averaged about 27 percent lower than previous prices for new Pentium chip versions and 10 percent for older, slower chip models, according to analysts.In a news release for investors, the company said the new prices include the 120 megahertz Pentium chip, which now costs $734, compared with the old price of $935, and the 100 megahertz Pentium, now priced at $479, compared with the previous price of $673.
For the older models of the Pentium chips, one of the price cuts included the 60 megahertz, which now costs $245 compared with $273. The higher the megahertz number the greater the processing speed.
The prices are set on a 1,000-unit basis.
Intel said it will no longer publish Intel 486 chip prices. The company has been pushing its newer Pentium chips over the older 486 chips.
Intel doesn't usually issue a media release when it cuts prices, a company spokesman said.
The price cuts are "in line with what the company has been doing," said analyst William Milton of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Intel has made previous price cuts in its chips.
The deeper price cuts for the newer chip models were to be expected, said analyst Rajiv Chaudhri of Goldman Sachs & Co. Intel likes to cut the prices of the newer models as the supply increases so that they become more attractive to the mainstream, he said.