ESDRAM, Via Technologies, and Compaq
OK, Dan, if you have the last cheap shares, I'll post a favorable tidbit. Weeks or months ago, someone asked if Compaq, which does not appreciate the INTC empire, might like to use ESDRAM. Also, on the RMBS thread, Elmer guessed that Triton (Intel) has nearly all the market for chipsets, so support from an unknown like Via Tech should be counted as trivial. I decided to research the point.
First, Via Tech has moved up to number two in market share worldwide, according to Dataquest -- see:
techweb.com
which gives 52% to Triton and 14% to Via Tech, a private company on Taiwan. The Via website is
via.com.tw
and you can download a .pdf file of Via Connections, a newletter. One finds that Via has signed up Compaq! (V. 2, #2, page 6)
Now, Via Tech has a local office in Fremont, at 1-510-683-3300, so I called Dean Hays and asked about the situation. He has worked with Enhanced Memory (RMTR's sub) and remarks that ESDRAM support will be available in the next version of Via's chipsets, about the end of the year. And, if people check the Via website at that time, they can learn which motherboards will use the new chips, and thus ESDRAM.
Compaq has about 12% of the PC market, according to a recent Fortune article that shows Dell and Compaq moving up at high rates.
I conclude that the Via connection is potentially larger than the announced DEC-Alpha market, since ESDRAM will be available in a common PC brand, well before the RDRAM or SLDRAM competition. However, ESDRAM will have to compete with DDR SDRAM, or whatever Via includes. They will eventually support whatever the market wants.
I suggest that Mike Gumport's estimate of 60% higher sales, or the Ramtron guess of a double, is *very* conservative. As a homework problem, what is 1% of the main memory market nowadays?
Regards, Logan |
