Intel cancels top-speed Pentium 4 chip

Intel on Thursday canceled plans to introduce its highest-speed desktop computer chip, ending for now a 25-year run that has seen the speeds of Intel’s microprocessors increase by more than 750 times.

The unexpected move also adds to a string of product changes, cancellations and recalls that has roiled the world’s largest chip maker this year. Intel shares fell 2.3 percent.

Since the introduction of the 5 MHz 8088 processor in 1979, Intel has cranked up the clock speed of its PC chips with remarkable consistency, until now. Intel’s 3.8 GHz Pentium 4 chip be the firm’s fastest on the market for the foreseeable future.

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