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Robbie Stephens Notebook: Rambus Confirms Intel Delay
By TSC Staff
2/23/99 3:13 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -- Tuesday morning at the BancBoston Robertson Stephens Tech '99 Conference, Rambus (RMBS:Nasdaq) CFO Gary Harmon seemed to confirm that Intel (INTC:Nasdaq) will push back its rollout of the Rambus-based Camino chip set.
"Intel has said that they will be releasing a Rambus chipset this year," said Harmon. "We think that at the Intel Developer Forum -- starting today in Palm Springs, Calif. -- Intel will refine that to the second half of the year."
Camino is the singlemost important product to Rambus -- a company with a $1.8 billion market cap and, thus far, few products to its name. This was underscored by Harmon's admission that some 50 Rambus engineers -- one-third of its workforce -- are tied up working with Intel.
Nonetheless, Robertson Stephens analyst Dan Niles said it's not an issue. "Our view on Intel is that they slip shipping deadlines," said Niles. "So today they will put a stake in the ground on when the slip will be. This is a long-term story."
As Harmon spoke in San Francisco, some 600 miles to the south in Palm Springs, Intel exec Pat Gelsinger demonstrated a next-generation system that included Rambus technology. But the real McCoy, he admitted, won't be "ramping" until the second half of the year.
"We believe the full set of platform components begins in the third quarter of this year," Gelsinger said. Delays for Rambus-powered laptop computers will be even longer. "Rambus for mobile computers will be ready shortly after, or very late this year or early next year," he said.
Some investors are sure to be disappointed with the news. Shares of Rambus rallied briefly as high as 82 1/2 after the presentation but gave up those gains in midday trading, when they were down 5% at 78 1/8.
-- Cory Johnson in San Francisco and Marcy Burstiner in Palm Springs
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