Scumbria,
You may have missed this one as well (and on the last article, "pessimism" was the wrong word to search for)...
nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com
RDRAM Regains Ground from DDR Chips
May 17, 2001 (TAIPEI) -- Rambus RDRAM is making a comeback after
recently being threatened with extinction by rising star double data rate, or
DDR, DRAMs.
This is the result of the falling price of Intel Corp.'s Pentium 4 microprocessor.
RDRAM gained its second wind in the race against the DDR chip following
Intel's decision to lower its P4 price. In order to take the first mover
advantage, Winbond Electronics Corp. has enlisted support from Japan's
Toshiba Corp. to launch the pioneer samples of RDRAM chips during this
quarter, ahead of other rival chipmakers in Taiwan.
Local motherboard firms said they were considering raising production of the
RDRAM version motherboards to 5 percent in the second quarter, 40
percent higher than the production of the pro-DDR motherboards would
account for. But so far, not a single chipset maker in Taiwan plans to produce
RDRAM chipsets.
At the technology forum sponsored by Rambus Inc, Intel reiterated that
RDRAM was the best mate of Pentium 4. Intel said that RDRAM is the best
choice memory chip that can enable the Pentium 4 to show users how good it
can perform.
The price of the pro-P4 computer, excluding display, has dropped below
US$1,000, and motherboard producers, which one after another scaled up
the weight of RDRAM in their productions, are now signaling that buyers are
looking for RDRAM chips again. As a result, the battle to restore RDRAM's
position in the chip market is underway.
Asustek Computer Inc., Taiwan's motherboard powerhouse, said it had
decided to produce twice as many pro-RDRAM products in the second
quarter as it did in the first quarter. Asustek admitted the decision to give
greater weight to the production of RDRAM-supported motherboards
instead of pro-DDR versions came in line with the price drop of pro-P4
computers, which has boosted RDRAM shipments.
Powered by the motherboard and chipmaking powerhouses, the vice CEO of
Rambus OEM marketing division, Steve Chen, revealed the RDRAM took
up a thin slice of market share as it had long been used in the high-end servers
and workstations, but the user-friendly 128Mb RDRAM was likely to
account for more than 12 percent of market share by the year's end.
So far, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Elpida Memory Inc. and Toshiba are
the three chipmaking firms around the world that have produced RDRAM
chips. In Taiwan, Rambus has licensed Winbond and Powerchip
Semiconductor Corp. for RDRAM chip productions. Rambus said that
Winbond would probably be the first Taiwanese chipmaker to produce
RDRAMs in tandem with Japan's Toshiba. Winbond is set to launch the
RDRAM sample chips before long.
However, unlike motherboard and chipmakers, the response from chipset
companies has so far been tepid. Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. and Acer
Laboratories Inc. remain cautious over whether or not to swim with the tide,
even though they have been authorized by Rambus as early as 1998 and been
licensed by Intel for Pentium 4 production. SiS eventually determined not to
involve into RDRAM chipsets production, while ALI will make a final
judgement depending on the market's further movement. |
