Chip maker Cyrix is pulling out of the PC processor market. Bought two years ago by microprocessor giant National Semiconductor, the company has struggled to make headway against Intel. Though competitively priced, its MII range was criticised for slow floating point maths and poor graphics performance.
Ironically, research is currently underway on a next-generation chip - codenamed Gobi - intended to include both a better floating point unit and 3DNow! graphics instructions. But the company now plans to concentrate on chips for information appliances and set-top boxes, including its MediaGX, which integrates both sound and graphics functions onto the same piece of silicon.
As yet there's no timescale on the withdrawal, so it's business as usual for both manufacturing plants and research labs. IBM was mooted recently as a possible buyer for the processor business but this is hotly denied by both sides.
Computeractive
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