Intel overtakes rival AMD in speed arena.

Intel Corp. Monday unveiled 15 new Pentium processors, including a lightning-fast 733 megahertz version in a bid to reclaim its position as the maker of the world_s fastest microprocessors from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Earlier AMD scored an unusual coup against its Silicon Valley rival by launching a 700 megahertz version of its new Athlon chip family, unseating Intel whose fastest processor on the desktop was a 600 megahertz Pentium III. "It is the world_s fastest processor," Paul Otellini, executive vice president and general manager of Intel_s architecture business group, told reporters at a news briefing. He also pointed out that the product launch was the chip giant_s biggest in its 31-year history. Intel_s new chips also underscore efforts at the world_s largest maker of computer microchips to produce more powerful computer processors at lower costs, which in turn should boost profit margins and fuel higher sales. The processors are targeted at four main product segments: desktop, mobile, workstation and server computers. Most of the major computer makers announced a variety of products designed around the chips, with various dates of availability. All the new products were made using a new process technology called 0.18 micron, resulting in semiconductors that have finer line widths between transistors and thus more transistors on a silicon wafer. Intel said the new Pentium III chips had 28 million transistors compared with about 8.5 million in the Pentium III processors that were made using the older 0.25 micron technology. The new technology enables faster processing that consumes less power. Moreover, the new process was expected to lower manufacturing costs over the long term. Intel was expected to detail those benefits during its analyst meeting later this week. The new manufacturing process enabled the first line of mobile computers using Pentium IIIs, because of the lower heat dissipation. Another key feature of the new Pentium line, previously code-named Coppermine, is its advanced transfer cache technology, which resides on the chip and enables a performance boost of up to 25 percent when compared with Pentium III processors running at the same clock speed. Along with the new Pentium IIIs and the Pentium III Xeons for workstations and servers, Intel also introduced a new 840 chipset for the computer workstation and server markets, which uses the RDRAM technology for faster memory developed by Rambus Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.