According to an article by Jack Robertson of EBNews, Intel Corp. is moving up the launch date of its double-data-rate SDRAM Pentium 4 chipset from Q1 2002 to October this year. The accelerated introduction of the Brookdale chipset may mean that Intel will abandon plans for a single-data-rate version.

Intel has reportedly changed the DDR chipset launch date to prevent Advanced Micro Devices Inc. from being the only chip supplier in that market for such a long period. Originally, the company had intended to support only Direct Rambus DRAM for the Pentium 4. AMD is scheduled to begin large-scale shipments of high-end Athlon chips supported by DDR chipsets this quarter.

It appears that Intel and Rambus Inc. have modified their contract, which originally banned Intel from supporting any P4 desktop memory interface but Rambus DRAM before to 2003.

For more information, read ebnews.com and theregister.co.uk.