TECHNOLOGY - July 2, 1994

Intel to Cut Chip Prices Faster: Faced with intensifying competition, the Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker will break with its usual practice and cut prices on its 486 and Pentium chips twice in the fiscal third quarter, a company official said. Intel traditionally shaves prices just once each quarter, on the first day of the period. Its 486 and Pentium chips are the brains inside an estimated 75% of the world’s personal computers. This time, Intel will announce initial cuts Tuesday--the first day of its new quarter--and will make a second round of cuts Aug. 1. The plan for a double cut comes as Intel aggressively tries to present Pentium as the standard chip for PCs, eating into the market of companies that make clones of Intel’s previous-generation 486 chips. The company is also trying to ward off competitive threats to Pentium from PowerPC, a chip developed jointly by Motorola Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and Apple Computer Inc.