Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Lam Research (LRCX, NASDAQ): To the Insiders -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Duker who wrote (2935)	6/15/1999 4:28:00 PM
From: Duker	Respond to of 5867

Samsung sees scant interest in 600-MHz RDRAMs semibiznews.com [Another interesting article from this site. --Duker] A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 3 p.m. EST/1 p.m., PST, 6/15/99 By Jack Robertson KIHEUNG, South Korea -- If Intel Corp. chooses to launch a chip set that supports the 600-MHz initial speed grade of Direct Rambus DRAM, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said its customers will not show much interest. "Our customers are not interested in a 600-MHz Rambus," said Y.W. Lee, president and chief executive of Samsung's semiconductor division. Because memory makers are getting their highest initial yields of Direct RDRAM in 600-MHz parts, Intel is planning to debut its Camino Intel 820 chip set with support for that speed grade at the end of September, then launch another chip set several weeks later that would support 700- and 800-MHz Rambus chips (see June 11 story). Intel denied the reports, and said it will simultaneously roll out chip sets that support all Rambus speeds grades. Lee said in an interview at Samsung's chip headquarters here that Samsung's customers only want 700- and 800-MHz Rambus chips. He said a few OEMs might take the lower-performance 600-MHz version if they are the only Rambus chips available, he said, but most are waiting for the higher-speed chips. Lee expressed doubts about analyst projections stating that 700- and 800-MHz Direct RDRAM types will be production-ready by September. That might be too soon for yields of the higher-speed Direct RDRAMs to reach mass production, Lee said. "By the end of the year, [Direct Rambus] speed may move to 700 MHz and [Samsung's] production will be more than 1 million units," he said. The highest-speed Direct RDRAM versions should be in full production by next year, and will establish a beachhead in high-end systems before moving into the mainstream PC market, Lee said. A full Direct Rambus infrastructure will be in place before 2000, Lee asserted. "The infrastructure isn't ready yet," he said. "Testers are not ready. Back-end assembly operations aren't completely in place. Mass production of [RIMM] modules isn't available." But by next year, Samsung expects that all Direct RDRAM pieces will be in place for the new memory chip to take off. Only memory makers with 0.18-micron process technology will be able to achieve production yields of 700- and 800-MHz Direct RDRAM chips, Lee said. "Many companies will try to make Direct Rambus at 0.2-micron or 0.25-micron, but their capacity will be limited in high-performance product," he said. A year-2000 ramp-up for Direct RDRAM will not give any early edge in the market to rival PC133 SDRAM, Lee said. "PC133 is not a big winner, although some companies are already pushing it. But PC133 will not be a high-volume product." Lee said PC133 SDRAMs are expected to represent "a small portion" of Samsung's DRAM sales.