Hi all; Well, I caught my big fish. I'm afraid your management at RMBS are not above activities on the web that are a bit scaly, or maybe slimy is a better word. And not particularly bright, either. I have to say that I am stunned and surprised.
I'm sure that the revelation is only going to shock those people that really believe that Rambus is a totally ethical, above board and honest company, but there are a few of those naifs still running around buying stocks.
In the mean time, I am going to concentrate on the dramreview web site, while it is still there.
On the product page, the one where dramreview manages to mention every product that is dreaming of shipping with RDRAM, while missing most of the DDR products out there, a list of analyst predictions for memory types over the next four years appears:
Analyst RDRAM DDR 00 01 02 03 00 01 02 03 % + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Dataquest | 12 33 50 62 n n n n In-Stat | 8 25 45 55 n n n n Semico | 3 2 1 1 9 20 29 38
I went and did a web search to verify the above numbers, but couldn't find them. Perhaps they are available only to people who subscribe to expensive analyst reports. That would take a lot of money, wouldn't it? Kind of makes you wonder just who dramreview is, doesn't it?
Anyway, I did find a couple of links. I couldn't locate a Semico prediction as low as the one above, maybe I'll go looking again for one, and if I find it, I'll link it to this post.
In late '99, Semico was predicting 7% for both DDR and DRDRAM in '00: Direct Rambus and DDR each will account for less than 7% of worldwide DRAM unit shipments in 2000, while a little more than three-fourths of the market will be PC100/PC133 devices, according to Semico Research Corp., Phoenix. In 2001 and 2002, DDR and Direct RDRAM will gain ground at the expense of PC100/PC133.
...
A "macro" forecast might do for a product such as PC133, which is likely to become mainstream quickly, according to Leon Shivamber, vice president for product management at Arrow Electronics Inc., Melville, N.Y. But for higher-end devices, predictions from individual customers are more critical, he said, adding, "At that level, there is likely to be a lot of hand-holding until the products are broadly adopted."
I may as well rub the following quote from Arrow in the thread's face, this is what I've been saying for a long time, of course:
That's apt to be the case for Rambus DRAMs, according to Shivamber. "But [the uncertainty surrounding the technology's ramp-up] will not affect what we do until there is a production schedule," he said.
"Lots of customers are struck by Rambus and are thinking of designing it in, but very few of the big boys have designed in Rambus in large scale," Shivamber added. techweb.com
Back in late '98, Semico was at the low end for predictions of DRDRAM production in '99 (and was overly optimistic, I believe) back in late '98:
Semico Research Corp., Phoenix., has cast a dim light on volume projections, estimating that vendors are equipped to produce a mere 33 million Direct RDRAM ICs in 1999. High end processors shipping from Intel alone will require between 170 million and 200 million DRAM units, according to Semico analyst Sherry Garber. "You can't get there from here," she said.
Meanwhile, Rambus was pumping the numbers, and was quite wrong: "We've talked to the DRAM companies, and we've added up the volumes they plan to make, and it appears to us to be north of 100 million units," said Subodh Toprani, vice president and general manager of Rambus' logic division, Mountain View, Calif. "And remember, these are plans being made in 1998 for products shipping in 1999." techweb.com
-- Carl |