Steve,
After I read that article, I not only did not come away fearing no one would want to adopt the RMBS technology because it IS too expensive, but think how RMBS can manage this transition to meet future customer demand as they have never handled something like this before. Cost will come down in time as adoption spreads. We have been in tech investing too long to not recognize that if this product truly represents the best solution there is, sponsorship will come. RMBS has INTC's sponsorship today and I fully disagree with the thinking that INTC's management did not fully understand what they have gotten into with this alliance with RMBS. To the contrary, they fully understand the potential risk of being the first adopter and they are confident they can leverage their semi leadership position to drive adoption and change the rule of the game in 2 years. INTC is not a small potato BTW and an alliance like this gets all the way to the tech strategy committee. Has INTC made a wrong decision? Only the street can decide if this is so.
Also, regardless of which competing technology eventually wins (IBM or others), they all have to overcome the same hurdle RMBS is going through today. The difference is, RMBS is already ahead of the curve. Further, the analysts are putting their weights behind RMBS. This is street sponsorhip. How long will this last? Would it last as long as it did with QCOM (remember all the CDMA argument) which caused it to shoot 1000% last year? RMBS started at $60 this year. I won't be surprised RMBS gets to $600 in a few months before receding. Sure there are risks everywhere. If you think QCOM is overvalued, then RMBS is equally overvalued. So do all the semi's that we invest in. I never for a second think they are cheap.
ISIL - their technology is fully complementary to all the battery makers. This should accelerate the expansion of all portable devices and the entire rechargeable battery market. Below is the latest ISIL technology but I'm not sure who their competitors (if any) are.
Intersil's technology breakthrough is applied to the development of metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), which are tiny electrical switches used for power management in portable PCs, cell phones and portable information appliances. Intersil's new Dense Trench(TM) technology increases battery life by reducing the switching losses and switching resistance of system MOSFETs.
``By increasing density within the cell structure of the switching MOSFETs, we can significantly improve power efficiency,' added Morcom. ``In fact, we believe that Intersil's technology is a generation ahead of our competition. Manufacturers of these battery powered products can either take advantage of better resistance characteristics in the same size MOSFET or achieve the same performance in a smaller package.'
Better efficiency comes from Intersil's patented Dense Trench(TM) technology, which increases the channel density within each MOSFET device. Greatly simplified, the more channels present in a unit silicon area of a MOSFET the lower the resistance of the device. Lower resistance equates to better device and system efficiency. Channel density of Intersil's new Dense Trench(TM) MOSFET is more than twice that of competitive trench designs. Beyond use in battery powered products, Intersil's Dense Trench technology can be used for power management in desktop PCs and network servers. Intersil anticipates release of its first Dense Trench technology products this summer. |
