Intel Will Greatly Reduce Some Chip Prices

Intel Corp. is expected to slash prices of its Pentium microprocessor, the engine of most of the world’s personal computers, by up to 50% on Sunday. The world’s biggest chip maker cuts Pentium prices about once a quarter, but this year’s summer price cut will be bigger than usual, analysts said. What’s more, Intel will cut prices again in November, a scheduled price cut it skipped last year. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel has to get rid of its supply of an older generation of Pentium chips. The company also is moving to stay ahead of competitors like Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Cyrix Corp., which are supplying state-of-the-art chips for lower prices, analysts said. The price of the low-end Pentium 133 and Pentium 150 are expected to be cut to $93 from about $130 to $150, according to Microprocessor Report, an industry newsletter. Intel shares fell 56 cents to close at $89.19 in Nasdaq trading.