wbmw,
Just like the other OEMs, Sun will eventually figure out that duplicating an R&D effort is a money losing prospect when Intel is willing to do it instead. Over time, with so many adjacent groups and a lot larger R&D budget, Intel will design better solutions than any of the OEMs are willing to spend to compete.
I guess HP's Itanium chipset would not be a good example of what you are trying to say.
Joe