Intel cuts chip prices yet again

Intel has reduced the prices of the desktop Pentium III and Celeron chips yet again. This price cut is the second this month and is about 15 per cent. (see story- '''').

Intel  reduced the price of the 600MHz desktop Pentium III from $669 to $615, or eight percent, while the price of the 550MHz Pentium III chip was reduced from $487 to $423, a drop of about 13 per cent. Intel officials said that the company''s Pentium III production is strong, which is what has allowed the company to reduce prices.

Intel also cut prices on its desktop Celeron chips by up to 15 percent. The company did so with the holiday season in mind, in order to make PC prices more attractive.

Intel also cut the price of the cheaper Celeron variant by as much as 15 per cent. The 433MHz Celeron  fall 15 percent from $93 to $79 and the 400MHz Celeron chip has its price  reduced by 12 per cent to $64 from $73. The 500MHz Celeron has a price cut of   eight percent from $167 to $153 while the 466MHz Celeron falls by 13 percent from $114 to $99.

The cuts have been made so that PC makers can gear up for the holiday season. The other objective is to ward off the stiff challenge from Intel''s competitor, AMD.

AMD had also reduced prices by up to 25 percent off its K6-2 and K6-III desktop chips last week and has come on strongly after the launch of its Athlon processor (see )

Meanwhile, Intel is also preparing to roll out a number of new desktop Pentium III chips. The first will be a new 600MHz and a 533MHz which are expected to be announced by the end of this month. These chips will work with Intel''s new 820 desktop chip set, which supports a 133MHz system bus.