Motorola and IBM announce first volume desktop and portable 200MHz microprocessors in industry

Somerset Design Center steps up pace of PowerPC^tm development

May 13, 1996

The PowerPC 603e and PowerPC 604e microprocessors offer significant performance improvements over the originals. The microprocessors exceed the performance targets set last year by Motorola and IBM for the initial PowerPC 603e and PowerPC 604e offerings by up to 30 percent. In addition, the 200MHz microprocessors will be available up to six months earlier than stated previously.

The increased performance is realized through both microprocessor design enhancements - including doubling of caches on the PowerPC 604e - and aggressive use of the latest manufacturing technology processes. They are also significantly smaller and use less power than their predecessors.

Somerset Design Center

The latest PowerPC microprocessors were designed and developed at the Somerset Customer Design Center in Austin, Texas by engineers from IBM and Motorola. Somerset is the focal point of design and development for high-volume, RISC (reduced instruction set computing) microprocessors developed by the two companies. Other PowerPC microprocessors developed there include the PowerPC 601^tm, PowerPC 602^tm, PowerPC 603^tm, PowerPC 604^tm and PowerPC 620^tm.

"Today's announcement is an indication of what is to come from the Somerset Design Center," says Mark McDermott, Somerset director. "With a strong history of successful chip designs, the PowerPC 603e and PowerPC 604e microprocessors are part of a family of designs that push performance to ever increasing levels."

PowerPC Customer Support

Apple Computer, Motorola Computer Group, Power Computing and UMAX plan to announce systems that use the new PowerPC microprocessors before the end of the year.

Apple Computer announced today it will use the 200MHz PowerPC microprocessors in systems available before the end of 1996. "Apple is really excited about the future of PowerPC technology," noted Howard Lee, senior vice president of the Macintosh Systems Division, Apple Computer, Inc. "These high-speed processors are yet another sign of IBM and Motorola's commitment to the PowerPC architecture and to its customers, and will ensure that Apple's Power Macintosh PowerBook and desktop product lines deliver leading-edge performance, graphics capabilities and flexibility to the volume desktop arena."

"Motorola and IBM continue to demonstrate that the products being developed at Somerset represent best in class technology," stated Joe Guglielmi, corporate vice president and general manager, Motorola Computer Group (MCG). "By taking advantage of the powerful, new lines of microprocessors, MCG will continue to provide our board and system customers with leading-edge products."

Power Computing said it will use the new PowerPC microprocessors in its new PowerBase line of high-volume systems expected to ship this summer. "Power Computing is committed to providing our customers with superior PowerPC microprocessor-based products," said Stephen Kahng, president and CEO, Power Computing Corporation. "The PowerPC microprocessors at 166-, 180- and 200MHz will enable us to expand our product line to offer more high-performance, low-power desktop systems at extremely competitive prices."

"UMAX is pleased that Motorola and IBM have extended the performance of their PowerPC microprocessor family," said Don Chang, president and CEO, UMAX Computer Corporation. "Our goal is to broaden the Macintosh market, and the enhanced PowerPC microprocessor lines will usher our product lines into a new generation of price/performance."

Advances in Performance

The performance of the 603e at 200MHz is more than 300 percent greater than the original PowerPC 603 announced less than two years ago and 45 percent better than the 603e at 120MHz. This performance also exceeds that of the fastest Pentium available today while using significantly less power. The high-performance and low power consumption of the entire 603e line allow manufacturers to build systems ranging from sub-notebooks and laptops to high-performance notebooks and entry desktop systems.

The PowerPC 604e at 200MHz represents approximately a 400 percent increase in desktop computing power over the original PowerPC 601^tm. The PowerPC 604e is IBM and Motorola's flagship desktop/entry server microprocessor and is capable of running in uni- or multi-processor environments.

Pricing and Availability

These products are sampling today and are expected to ship in systems by the end of the year. Detailed pricing and availability will be announced by the manufacturers separately.

IBM's mission is to be the world's most successful and important information technology company and IBM Microelectronics Division plays a leadership role in that mission. The division develops, manufactures and markets state-of-the-art semiconductor technologies, products, packaging and services, including PowerPC, POWER and x86 architecture microprocessors.

With 1995 worldwide sales of $8.5 billion, Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector is the largest U.S.-based broad line supplier of semiconductor solutions. Motorola is one of the world's leading providers of wireless communications, semiconductors, and advanced electronic systems, components, and services. Major equipment businesses include cellular telephone, two-way radio, paging and data communications, personal communications, automotive, defense and space electronics and computers. Motorola semiconductors power communication devices, computers and millions of other products. Motorola's 1995 sales were $27 billion.

Motorola is a registered trademark of Motorola, Inc. IBM, PowerPC, PowerPC 601, PowerPC 602, PowerPC 603, PowerPC 604, PowerPC 620 and PowerPC architecture are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines. All other trademarks are owned by their respective companies.

IBM Microelectronics product information is also available via the IBM Microelectronics Fax Service at (415)855-4121.