Rivals Are Close to Cloning Intel’s Lucrative 386 Chip

Intel Corp. will face challenges to one of its most profitable products, the 80386 computer chip, from start-ups and established rivals over the next two years, industry analysts said Tuesday.

“Maybe late this year or next year we will see a 386 clone product,” said Michael Gumport at Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc.

Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Corp. is the most likely candidate to beat others to market with a clone of the widely used chip, he said.

Others developing 386 clones are Chips & Technologies Inc. and NexGen Microsystems, the analysts said.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel so far has refused to allow anyone else to make its 386 chip, which earns almost $1 billion a year in revenue, according to industry estimates.

Microprocessor chips are widely used in electronic products of all kinds. The 386 has become the chip of choice among makers of the newest, most powerful personal computers.

Pete Janssen, vice president of marketing at NexGen, said the San Jose-based company hopes to have microprocessors compatible with Intel’s 386 and 486 chips available in 1991.

“We’ll have high-end performance microprocessors but at two times the performance of a 486 and six to eight times the performance of a 386 aimed at the high-end of the (personal computer) market,” he said.