Semiconductors . . . M-Systems (flash-based data storage products) said it continues to see strength in its business. Based on current order trends, M-Systems expects first-quarter revenue to exceed its fourth-quarter total of $20.7 million.
RF Micro Devices repeated its outlook for the quarter at the Deutsche Bank conference. The company remains on track to report results ranging from break-even to a loss of a penny a share on sales of $135 million for the fourth quarter ending in March, Suzanne Rudy said. The consensus is for $0.00 on revenues of $135.1 million.
Expect P4-M and PIII-M MPU list reductions in the 30% range to accompany the launch of Intel’s Banias notebook platform tomorrow. Note that AMD implemented similar price cuts two weeks ago on its mobile MPU lineup in anticipation of Intel’s move. Intel has already begun marketing its Centrino solution, which will initially consists of the Banias MPU, Intel’s 855 core logic and Intel’s Pro/Wireless 2100 802.11b chipset. The company hopes to offer 802.11a/b/g solutions with Bluetooth capabilities in future Centrino systems. Further down the road, Intel plans to integrate the WLAN baseband/MAC onto the south-bridge. While Intel has made a lot of press lately with Centrino, we believe the company’s WLAN solutions are still less advanced compared to chipsets offered by Intersil Corp and Broadcom, both of which have begun shipping 802.11g chipsets. In addition, while Intel is outsourcing the RF and PA (power amplifier) portions of the chipset, most of the competition has been shipping complete solutions. Despite the uphill race, Intel has two primary reasons for entering the WLAN market. First, Intel believes a robust and complete WLAN offering will spur mobile MPU sales. The company has invested heavily in WLAN technology and related wireless software and services startups toward this end. Secondly, Intel hopes higher chipset revenues will help soak up excess 200mm capacity as MPU manufacturing migrates over to 300mm. Checks suggest OEMs and Taiwanese notebook ODMs are not enthusiastic about employing Intel’s packaged solution. Manufacturers are not obligated to use Centrino, however. They are free to build Intel Banias systems with core logic and WLAN chipsets from other vendors, but must use all Intel parts in order to benefit from the upcoming Centrino marketing blitz.
In the DRAM contract market, DDR pricing continued to weaken as it declined from the $4 level for 2nd half February to the mid-to-high $3 range for 1st half March. SDRAM pricing remain unchanged in the low-to-mid $4 level per 256Mb equivalent. Pricing appears to have stabilized in the spot market, where DDR parts actually gained 2% sequentially. Both SDRAM and DDR parts are priced in the mid-$3 level per 256Mb equivalent. Note that the spot market represents only 10- 15% of total unit volume in the current environment.
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