Dothan Shipping To OEMs

Dothan's release was originally delayed by several months because of manufacturing issues. Now that it's reaching OEMs, the chip will head up a raft of new product shipments into the second half of the year in what Intel executives hope will give the company a boost in the market.

In particular, Otellini said he expects a strong and quick ramp to the new Dothan platform that would continue momentum the company began to see last year with its line of mobile processors.

"We are ideally positioned for a strong second half with new products and platforms," Otellini said, shortly after the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company reported its earnings for the first quarter.

Those results included revenue of $8.1 billion and a profit of 26 cents per share, compared with consensus expectations of $8.17 billion and a profit of 27 cents per share as reported by Thomson Financial/First Call.

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Intel also is set to launch its Grantsdale chipset, which will include integrated graphics and heightened video display technology as well as support the new DDR2 memory platform. Intel's next-generation Xeon processor, code-named "Noconoa," is set to ship later this quarter to OEMs for general market availability by July. Availability of dual-band, tri-mode a/b/g WiFi technology in its wireless offerings is expected by late 2004 or early 2005, Otellini said.

On other issues, Otellini said he expected Intel would have maintained its overwhelming processor market share during the quarter, but he declined to discuss any potential pressure from rival Advanced Micro Devices, Sunnyvale, Calif., with its competing AMD64 and Athlon product lines.

Intel's new products could go a long way toward boosting Intel's fortunes throughout the remainder of the year. Its first quarter disappointed some Wall Street analysts. Intel Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant told them, in the same conference call, that a build-up of mobile processor inventory led to softer sales during the quarter.

"There was some inventory at our customers that had to get worked off," Otellini said. "I was particularly pleased that, in spite of that, we saw unit growth in Centrino and [Mobile] Pentium M.

"I don't think there is an abnormal trend here," Otellini said. "There is still a megatrend toward mobile."