TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Digital Unveils World’s Fastest Computer Chip: The Alpha AXP 21164, which can process more than 1 billion instructions per second, is the industry’s most powerful and the first to break the 300-megahertz speed barrier, said Digital Equipment Corp. President and Chief Executive Robert Palmer. The average personal computer runs at a processing speed of about 66 MHz. Compared to the fastest competitors, the new chip is more than twice as fast as the Pentium, PowerPC and MIPS microprocessors, the Maynard, Mass., company said. The Alpha AXP 21164-300 MHz and Alpha AXP 21164-266MHz are priced at $2,669 and $1,865, respectively, in quantities of 5,000. Samples will be available next month.