IBM to Take On Intel With New PC Chip Line

IBM is getting ready to challenge Intel Corp.’s dominance in personal computers with a new line of PC chips that experts say rival the most powerful devices on the market.

The world’s biggest computer company, which launched Intel to prominence by hiring it to develop the processor for the first IBM PC in 1981, has been working secretly on new PC microprocessors based on proprietary IBM microcode.

“IBM wants the control of the microprocessor back,” said Kimball Brown, an analyst with Infocorp in Santa Clara, Calif.

IBM would not comment, but industry analysts say such a project is indeed in the works.

Santa Clara-based Intel has used the 386, 486 and Pentium microprocessors to become the world’s leading independent computer chip maker.

In recent years, competitors such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc. have used Intel microcode to make clone chips.

The microcode is the software that enables the microprocessor to run the computer, and Intel’s position is that use of its microcode equals patent infringement.

Meanwhile, International Business Machines Corp., which has suffered record losses in recent years, has been looking for ways to diversify from the weakening mainframe computer market.

IBM has been developing chips compatible with Intel’s 486 and the Pentium, with IBM’s own proprietary architecture and microcode.