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Intel paying Sun to develop Xeon servers

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
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Stephen Shankland

SAN FRANCISCO--Intel is helping to fund the development of Sun Microsystems' upcoming servers with Xeon processors, Sun Chief Financial Officer Mike Lehman said Tuesday.

"For engineering, we will get paid for that by our friends at Intel," Lehman said at Sun's analyst summit here, discussing the upcoming line of Intel servers.

"Unlike our friends at Dell, we will disclose that," Lehman said, needling a rival currently afflicted with a shareholder lawsuit involving Intel payments.

Sun plans to begin selling the Xeon servers by the end of June, when Sun's fiscal 2007 ends, but for that period of time Sun expects "no significant" revenue from the deal, Lehman said.

Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz emphasized that Sun isn't scrapping its formerly exclusive x86 processor supply relationship with Advanced Micro Devices. "We are adding Intel into the product line. We are ramping rapidly with AMD," he said.