Intel unveils fastest chip, sees 2 gigahertz soon

SANTA CLARA, California (Reuters) -- Intel Corp. Monday introduced its two fastest chips, running at 1.6 billion and 1.8 billion cycles per second, and said that the company would offer a 2 gigahertz chip later this quarter.

The world's largest maker of chips used to power computers said that based on robust yields -- or the success it was having in manufacturing new chips with few defects -- the company plans to accelerate the timing of the release of its 2 gigahertz chip to sometime during the current third quarter.

The new Pentium 4 chips running at 1.6 gigahertz and 1.8 gigahertz, or billions of cycles per second, are designed to power the world's fastest desktop personal computers.

Pentium 4 chips are geared to business users that run the latest data-intensive software programs and for consumer PC users who run demanding digital video and audio and three-dimensional graphics used in advanced video games.

The Pentium 4 1.8 gigahertz chip is priced at $562 in quantities of 1,000, while the 1.6 gigahertz version is priced at $294, again in quantities of 1,000.

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