January 25, 1999, Issue: 1045
Section: Semiconductors
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
. . . As Taiwan chip makers hedge bets
Mark Carroll
Taipei, Taiwan - At the same time that Taiwan's chip-set industry is jumping on the PC133 bandwagon, they are also trying to obtain the licenses needed from Intel Corp. to do chip sets that will support the P6 bus and the Rambus memory architecture.
But Taiwan's mainboard and personal-computer makers are cautious about how quickly Rambus can be adopted this year at least, so they are investing in the PC133 as a near-term solution. "For 1999, a 133-MHz SDRAM solution is better than RDRAM [Rambus DRAM]," said an engineer at one of Taiwan's largest companies. "RDRAM has testing problems as well as undercapacity for the server market. The RIMM [Rambus In-line Memory Module] needs a redesign of the module-testing process. Also, with two or three slots, Rambus can only reach 256 Mbytes or 384 Mbytes of memory capacity. The server market is moving toward a 1-Gbyte main-memory capacity, which is a big challenge for a Rambus solution."
Royalty maneuver
Partly in order to save on royalty costs, the Taiwanese are quietly readying a PC133 SDRAM alternative. At least two Taiwanese core-logic vendors are working with SDRAM makers to offer such PC133 chip sets in the coming months. "In February, we will begin sampling a PC133 core-logic product," said a spokesman at one Taiwanese core-logic vendor. "It will be Pentium III-compatible and will have AGP 4X support."
The Taiwanese are not alone in their efforts to offer a non-Rambus solution. "Mitsubishi and Fujitsu are already sampling PC133 SDRAM," said the mainboard engineer, claiming that "along with the Taiwanese core-logic vendors, Intel will also offer PC133 core logic." An Intel spokesman declined to comment.
Acer Laboratories Inc. recently signed a Rambus license for a P6-based Rambus chip set due out late this year. A spokesperson said Acer has yet to sign the more fundamental Intel P6 bus license. Taiwan's two other major core-logic vendors said that they are first licensing the P6 bus before they attack the Rambus issue.
Via Technologies Inc. has already secured an Intel P6 bus license. "We now have licensed the P6 bus and are currently looking into licensing with Rambus," said a spokesman for Via. "Both Intel and Rambus' road maps, though, don't see RDRAM being available for PCs until late in the second quarter of this year."
Silicon Integrated Solutions (SIS) is nearing completion of both deals. "We are close to having a P6 bus license with Intel," said Shing Wang of SIS.
"There is no problem technically for us doing a Rambus solution. We are looking for when the market will support it."
Taiwan is less than excited about Rambus, given licensing fees and other issues. "Currently, there is a premium in testing Rambus vs. SDRAM," said Wang. "Also, RDRAM has about a 10 percent larger die size than traditional DRAM."
An analyst for the Taiwan branch of a major U.S. securities company said that the cost of testing RDRAM is coming down. "Recently, I attended a seminar put on by Rambus and Tessera here," said the analyst. "Tessera is one of the manufacturers of RDRAM test equipment. They presented data at the conference that showed that RDRAM testing costs are about 1.5 cents per I/O and will eventually go down to 1 cent per I/O. That's competitive with the testing costs of traditional DRAM."
Rambus is certainly pushing its technology here. "Rambus/Tessera are busy trying to get Taiwan manufacturers to license their technologies," said the securities analyst. "They are generally trying to create the necessary infrastructure for a transition to RDRAM to succeed."
The Taiwanese concede that RDRAM will eventually become important. "Intel will help support the transition to RDRAM," said the motherboard engineer. "Intel has invested in Samsung, which gives them leverage in having Samsung to produce RDRAM in quantity. Rambus is also verifying the RIMM module makers, which will help us in obtaining workable modules."
Copyright ® 1999 CMP Media Inc.
|
