W2C-019 Leinster Leader-0.txt
Fears for jobs as Intel comes under pressure
By HENRY BAURESS
INTEL Ireland has come under increasing pressure this week following the decision by IBM to stop shipments of personal computers which contain the Pentium chip. However its spokesman, Frank Turpin, said the difficulty won't affect the company's plans in the short to medium term.

The IBM decision follows the recent news that Intel and others have found a problem with the chip, but Intel said they have now dealt with it.

Intel's Leixlip plant is responsible for around half the company's world production of this chip and half of the 1900 Leixlip employees are involved in its production.

Intel said it discovered the problem with the chip in the summer. It has declined to recall the chips, but promised to aid those affected or replace chips where required.

It claims the problem only occurs with very advanced mathematical calculations, rather than less complex uses. The Pentium was launched in May 1993.

IBM said this week, however, that the likelihood of the problem occurring was much greater than indicated by Intel and a spokesman for IBM Ireland told the Leader on Tuesday that it was reacting to complaints from customers when it made its decision. It will resume shipments when it gets a better description of the problem, said Rory Caren, an IBM Ireland spokesman.

IBM said Intel's description of the flaw was technically accurate but there were many customer situations in which the risk of error may be significantly higher.

IBM is just one of a number of PC producers which produces Pentium based PC's. Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Dell, Gateway and Packard Bell have not yet followed IBM's move.

Intel have described IBM's decision as "unwarranted." "Based upon the work of our scientists analysing real world applications and the experience of millions of users of Pentium processor based systems, we have no evidence of increased probability of encountering the flaw," Andrew Grove, Intel President and CEO, said on Monday.

He repeated Intel will replace any chips for any customer who might encounter the problem. Frank Turpin, Intel Ireland manager for external affairs, said on Tuesday that Intel hoped to take on another 300 people in the OEM systems plant over the next three months and the problem with the chip has been rectified. Dell has supported Intel's stance, he said.

This week, the company expects a decision from Kildare County Council on its planning application for an extension to the Leixlip plant.

It is still hoped that an assembly and test centre will be built in Leixlip but plans for that third phase of the Leixlip development are on hold.

The background to the Pentium debate is the fact that there is currently a major price cutting war in the very competitive arena of PC's and their chips.

At home, the news of the Pentium problem has led to unease. Many of the Intel employees come from various parts of Co. Kildare and the company has proved a huge boost to Leixlip. Mike Parle, Leixlip Chamber of Commerce PRO, said the chamber has prepared a "doomsday" plan should anything happen Intel, pointing to the exit of Digital.
