SiliconBeat

Intel just gained ground on its longtime-microprocessor rival, Advanced Micro Devices, in the world of high-performance computers.

The latest edition of the TOP500 list, a widely watched compilation of the 500 most powerful computer systems, found Intel’s chips were in 399, or nearly 80 percent, of the supercomputers.

That’s an increase from six months ago when the Santa Clara company’s chips were in 379 or about 76 percent of the top computers.

AMD’s chips were in 43 supercomputers (about 8.6 percent), which was down from 59 six months ago.

Get ready for some gut-busting laughs, thanks to those crazy guys and gals over at Intel.

The Santa Clara computer-chip giant has signed on as a sponsor of “The Tonight Show with comedian Conan O’Brien.” According to the company, “this partnership leverages O’Brien’s unique ability to humorously convey to his viewers Intel’s unique personality, cutting-edge technology and futuristic innovations.”

Wait. Stop yukking. We haven’t gotten to the punch line yet.

While the chipmaker is passionate about technology, it notes in a press release, “there is also a funny, quirky side to Intel people - and we want to share that.”

Grab some chips and dip, set up the TV trays and turn on the tube to the silly side of Silicon Valley. Imagine what fun Conan could have with Intel’s 8-MB smart caches, SSE4 instruction sets and processor prefetching algorithms. Sounds like a real knee-slappin good time.

Silicon Valley chip competitors, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, sure don’t seem to see eye to eye on much.

The companies have been squabbling for years over AMD’s claim that Intel has monopolized the microprocessor market. And they don’t share the same view about the economic state of the semiconductor industry.

Last month, Intel CEO Paul Otellini declared that the personal-computer sales slump had “bottomed out.”

But in an interview this week with Dow Jones Newswires, AMD CEO Dirk Meyer said not so fast.

“It’s still too early to definitely say we’ve hit bottom,” Meyer advised. “You can only point to the bottom once you’ve passed it, and I can’t say we’re past it.”

Will these two chip-makers every get on the same page? .

In the ongoing war between Intel and its main microprocessor competitor, Advanced Micro Devices, score one for Intel.

The Santa Clara chip-making giant on Tuesday announced an improved version of its Nehalem chip for large servers and the revelation drew raves from Global Crown Capital analyst David Wu.

“It is clear that the Intel new product engine is running at full steam,” Wu concluded in a note to his clients today, “and we believe it will be a challenge for Advanced Micro Devices to keep up.”

That’s not all. Despite the economic downturn, Wu added, “Intel is in as good a shape product-wise, going into the worst global recession in 50 years, as anyone could have asked for.”

For those of you who think of the semiconductor business as a young tech industry, consider this sobering fact:

Santa Clara-based National Semiconductor today announced it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

That’s half a century, for those of you who, like many of us at SiliconBeat, flunked basic math.

The company, which was founded in 1959, notes that it developed the first integrated voltage regulator, the first modern operational amplifier and the first 32-bit microprocessor, among other things.

National has been hammered recently by the recession. But it still posted sales of nearly $2 billion for fiscal 2008. And as it expands into the green-energy business, who’s willing to bet it won’t be around for another 50 years?

As we just reported here, Intel’s latest corporate responsibility report doesn’t mention the $1.45 billion fine the European Commission imposed upon the company last week. And analysts covering the company apparently don’t seem too interested in mentioning it in their reports, either.

In the week since the fine was issued, none of the Intel analysts whose notes  we regularly monitor had a word about the fine or its implications for the Santa Clara computer chip giant.

That may seem curious, especially since Intel just hosted a two-day informational session for the analysts, beginning on the day the fine was announced. However, analysts we’ve interviewed about the fine see it as having little immediate impact on Intel.

After all, the company has nearly $8 billion in cash and short-term investments. Moreover, it will be appealing the ruling and the matter could drag on in the European courts for another couple of years.

Santa Clara chip-maker Intel today unveiled its annual “corporate responsibility report” today, an 108-page compendium that CEO Paul Otellini says in the forward shows “our commitment to corporate responsibility is unwavering.”

Among other highlights, the report notes that Intel has committed $120 million to improve math and science education over the next decade, while also investing more than $23 million in energy efficiency and conservation projects since 2001. It also says its employees volunteered more than 1.3 million hours to various causes around the world in 2008.

Nowhere does it say anything about the $1.45 billion fine the European Commission slapped it with last week for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive practices.

However, the report does contain a paragraph on “antitrust issues,” which says the company  “is engaged in a series of private litigations and regulatory investigations prompted by complaints from its primary competitor.”

While not mentioning the name of the competitor - Advanced Micro Devices of Sunnyvale - the report notes that “our conduct has always been lawful, pro-competitive and beneficial to consumers.”

Intel plans to appeal the fine.

The blog world is abuzz with rumors that Intel is about to get spanked - and hard - by European authorities, who have been investigating claims the Santa Clara chipmaker engaged in anti-competitive practices.

Some are speculating that the European Union might even fine Intel more than $1 billion.

No one is commenting at Intel or at its chief competitor, Advanced Micro Devices, which long has accused Intel of monoplizing the market for high-powered computer chips. So we’ll have to wait until the Euros issue a public statement on the matter, a development that could occur as early as next week, according to some blogsters.

When Roche first began maneuvering to take complete control of Genentech, the air was thick with speculation that the Swiss drug giant’s plans would force out some of the South San Francisco company’s top talent.

Sure enough, upon completing the deal last month, Roche announced that Susan Desmond-Hellmann, Genentech’s president of product development, would give up that job midyear and thereafter be an adviser.

But Desmond-Hellmann has landed on her feet, though at somewhat of a pay cut. On Thursday was named chancellor of the University of California at San Francisco, effective Aug. 3.

A former medical intern and assistant professor at the university, she will earn $450,000 a year as chancellor. Her compensation at Genentech included $725,666 in base pay and $1.3 million in incentives other than stock-based compensation, according to UCSF.

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Money losing Advanced Micro Devices of Sunnyvale said today it is revamping its organization, by creating four operational teams.

A products team, led by Rick Bergman, will merge the company’s effort to make graphics chips and microprocessors “into a “single unified organization.”

An Advanced Technology Group, led by Chekib Akrout, will focus on future technology innovation.The other two teams will be a marketing group, led by Nigel Dessau, and a customer group, led by Emilio Ghilardi, aimed at expanding AMD’s customer relationships.

The company also announced that Randy Allen, senior vice president for the Computing Solutions Group, is leaving AMD.