Japanese consortium rumoured to buy Intel Itanium

INTEL IS PUTTING a brave face on the self-inflicted wound that is Itanic, somehow spinning that yet another round of delays, sales backpedaling and ridicule is a win in its world.

But according to some sources, and it may not come off, a consortium of large Japanese companies is in negotiations to buy the line off Intel. Sanity aside, if this does happen, one has to wonder how much Intel will have to pay to get them to 'buy' this albatross.

Everything is shiny, everything is happy, and their architecture will conquer all. Next generation. Really. They have slides with healthy sales projections to prove it. Won't someone believe them? The problem is that behind the scenes, their actions don't meet up with their speech.

The disaster that is Montecito might sink SGI if Intel doesn't start re-ponying up the cash in a hurry, but from the looks of negotiations, that won't happen. People with titles like architect are running for greener hills, and it is taking billions in promises simply to keep people from running away, fast. The saddest part is that the CEOs of Intel and HP have to make kiss up calls to customers to soothe jangled nerves, but we aren't supposed to know about that, it would be embarrassing if it got out.. Remember, this is the victory condition, imagine if things were bad?

Now it is time to cash in on the blinding success of the line. No, not selling chips, but selling off Itanic itself. The last four or so plan Bs fell through, so now it is time to cut the ongoing losses and run. µ