Intel drops LCOS technology and display market

[xml2k]

Apparently Intel thinks the market doesn't exist for LCOS.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&e=1&u=/nm/20041021/tc_nm/tech_intel_televisions_dc

[David Meek]

They cancel the 4 Ghz Pentium chip, AMD chips already perform as well or better in several areas and now they're bailing on LCOS. Is Intel running scared?

[JonMarsh]

Well, my take on it is that they realized they don't know everything there is to know, and that they weren't prepared to compete on the margins common for "consumer electroncis", without the kind of high groos margins they've enjoyed in the CPU business. Probably someone in upper management said, "Hey look, everything else else we've tried has stunk on returns (ROI), what makes us think we know how to do this and make money on it? And the last thing we need is another distraction and another money losing fiasco to drag the stock price down if we don't pull it off".

Just my 0.02. Maybe the arrogance and hubris which has infected Intel is starting to dissipate, after the misteps, miscues, and re-starts they've had to go through this year.

~Jon

[Hank]

Yep, that arrogance made them believe they could just step in and start producing LCOS panels. I have experience there. We funded a project to develop an optical core with our I.P. for LCOS. We hung in there for three years with a U.S. LCOS producer and finally gave up after they could not get any acceptable manufacturing yield from producing the parts. Making LCOS panels is infinetly more difficult that making the typical transmissive type LCD panels. Intel just assumed, with their microprocessor wafer fabrication expertise, that they could make seemingly simpler LCOS panels. Lesson learned. Humble pie eaten.