Toshiba jumps in to back CPU consortium

Toshiba said today it will join the consortium, led by Professor Murakami of Kiushu University, which plans to produce a processor to rival the Pentium by 1998. Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC and Sony are among the 10 chip makers who have joined the group.

"So far the consortium has not yet been formed," clarified Angela Murphy, marketing communications controller, but in an official statement, Toshiba said: "We recognise the importance of standardising the interface between logic ICs such as microprocessors and memory. As one possible solution [we] are interested in the method proposed by Dr. Murakami."