Don,
I'm as surprised as you by the lack of reaction. Perhaps it just seems too strange at this point. Sometimes news takes a day or two to sink in.
Here's another version of same story only interestingly, substitute "DDR-2" for "Rambus"
Intel invites top DRAM makers to help define next-generation memory
By Jack Robertson
Electronic Buyers' News
(12/22/99, 01:39:14 PM EDT)
Five of the industry's leading DRAM makers have joined with Intel Corp. in an alliance to develop a so-called Next-Generation DRAM to succeed upcoming versions of double-data-rate SDRAM, industry sources said today.
The partners include Hyundai MicroElectronics, Infineon Technologies, Micron Technology, the new NEC-Hitachi Memory combine, and Samsung Electronics, which together comprise more than 80% of the global DRAM market.
An Intel spokesman declined to comment specifically on the alliance, saying only that the company "is always interested in developing new technologies and advanced semiconductors." The DRAM companies also declined to comment, although privately some executives said the alliance has been formed at Intel's initiative.
Sources said Intel wants early participation from memory makers to help define the DRAM architecture that will succeed DDR-2, an interface that is expected to replace DDR SDRAM sometime in 2002 or 2003. The follow-on technology, which Intel is referring to as Next-Generation DRAM, is slated to enter the market in 2004 or 2005, sources said.
Intel has tried to direct the industry before, dictating that OEMs and chip suppliers support Direct Rambus DRAM in systems just now coming into the market. However, cost and technology delays have limited the effort's momentum, as system and DRAM vendors alike continue to endorse competing PC133 and DDR SDRAM interfaces.
Sources within the DRAM industry said that Intel in early discussions was still looking to use a packet-data DRAM architecture for the next-generation chip. Direct Rambus uses such a design, which Intel likes because it enables packages to use fewer pins. PC133 and DDR SDRAM, by contrast, use a parallel-data bus. At such an early stage, however, source said Intel has not ruled out any technology.
DRAM executives from the member companies said they are happy that Intel has brought in chip makers to work jointly on the advanced chip. "This should eliminate a lot of the confusion and differences that surrounded Intel's unilateral decision to force Direct Rambus on the market," said a marketing vice president at one DRAM manufacturer.
ebnews.com
wily
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