Although Hewlett-Packard is a co-developer of Intel's IA-64 architecture, the company has indicated its first IA-64 ready server, the N-4000, may not use the Merced chip.

HP executives suggest the company might wait instead for Intel's McKinley version of the IA-64, and continue using its own PA-RISC design in the meantime.

It could prove an embarrassment for Intel. The chip maker wants to establish IA-64 as a mainstay in the high-end Unix server market as soon as it ships next year.

HP says two more versions of its own Precision Architecture RISC chips could be developed before the performance benefits from IA-64 are brought to bear.

HP has not provided detailed descriptions of its forthcoming PA-8800 and PA-8900 chips, but the latter is expected to achieve clock speeds approaching 1GHz.

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