The new plant will be used to build digital signal processors, high-speed chips that are designed to handle a variety of signals.

Cypress also concentrates on high-speed chips that sell at a premium, and its growth rivals Integrated Device's.

The new machine is the latest to use Sun's high-speed chip, or Sparc, microprocessor and will sell for $18,900, the company said.

But high-speed chips are now so widely available that they are common in machines sold in computer stores and over the Internet.

The move, in some ways, is similar to other manufacturers' upgrades to offer systems that use Intel's high-speed 486 and Pentium chips.

That technology has been used by many companies to produce high-speed chips.

The two announcements indicate a fast start for Sun's new high-speed chip, known as Sparc.

Traditional mainframes are based on expensive, custom-designed high-speed chips.

They can custom-make the high-speed chips we need.