DRAM alliance may disband if Intel withdraws
Chipmaker seen turning to JEDEC to help define new DRAM standards
By Jack Robertson
EBN
(02/22/02 15:56 p.m. EST)
Intel Corp. is preparing to withdraw from the Advanced DRAM Technology (ADT) alliance, according to sources within the committee, in a move that would likely cause the panel to disband.
Intel is claiming ADT no longer serves a useful purpose, sources said, adding that the company may also be worried about raising antitrust concerns stemming from its involvement in such a tightly knit, closed committee.
A spokeswoman for Intel declined to comment.
Without Intel's participation, the remaining ADT members-all DRAM manufacturers-see little reason to continue with the group, according to one member who asked not to be identified.
ìAfter all, we're all members of the JEDEC memory working group, which can handle any of the questions ADT was supposed to address, the member said.
Though it was unclear when Intel plans to officially pull out of the alliance, sources said the company will increase its involvement with JEDEC when it comes to helping define new DRAM standards.
ìThe industry is bound to benefit if all future DRAM definition is handled by JEDEC, said Kevin Krewell, an analyst at MicroDesign Resources Inc., Mountain View, Calif. ìBesides, Intel can bring a lot of experience to JEDEC working with high-speed memory, and that can only help everyone.
The PC and chip industries recall that Intel was a prime force in bringing PC100/133 synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) to market by helping to create the infrastructure, timing, and validation process that eventually tied together chips, modules, chipsets, motherboards, and systems. Then Intel went off on its own to promote Direct Rambus DRAM, and memory chipmakers threw their initial support behind double-data-rate SDRAM, a move that ended a brief but highly collaborative era.
Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., has long been a member of JEDEC. However, after it embraced PC133-and later DDR SDRAM-the company used ADT to push its new memory strategies, which raised suspicions among industry members outside the select DRAM body.
Sources within ADT said a number of first-tier OEMs wanted a voice on the council when it came to defining memory devices they would be using in the future. Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. also pressed hard to join ADT, a request that Intel rejected, the sources said.
The act of opening up ADT to all comers would have defeated the group's highly selective approach, causing it to end up as simply ìanother JEDEC, one ADT member said.
ADT was formed in 2000 when Intel and six of the largest DRAM makers joined hands to initiate concepts for a memory chip to follow DDR-II in 2004 or 2005. Given the friction that Intel's support of Rambus technology created with many DRAM suppliers, member companies said they were eager to once again sit at a common table with the company.
But several members of the alliance privately conceded that ADT never found a mission for itself despite a string of planning meetings. Proposals for a successor to DDR-II were also being addressed by JEDEC, which created the potential for conflict between the groups, ADT members said.
In one case, ADT members claimed to have developed a concept for on-die line terminations aimed at impedance control in high-speed DRAM. The claim touched off a protest by JEDEC, which said the standards body had already begun defining an open specification for on-die line terminations that predated ADT's effort.
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