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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: A. A. LaFountain III who wrote (66441)	7/22/1999 10:47:00 AM
From: Maurice H. Norcott	Respond to of 1575603

Sorry , I don't have link for this : TITLE Alpha picks up speed, while lowering costs (The Alpha Processor subsidiary of Samsung dropping costs of Alpha-based systems with launch of two motherboards and a processor module) AUTHOR Rick Merritt SOURCE Electronic Engineering Times, June 21, 1999, p8 MESSAGE Copyright 1999 CMP Publications, Inc. THIS IS THE COMPLETE TEXT. LANGUAGE English LENGTH 348 words TEXT Concord, Mass. - The Alpha Processor Inc. subsidiary of Samsung will bring the costs of Alpha-based systems to a new low as it launches two motherboards and a processor module at PC Expo in New York this week. The company will also tip word of a low-cost version of the Alpha 21264 processor it plans to produce early next year, and it will demo a 1-GHz version of the chip that is expected to ship in next year's second quarter. The Alpha group tomorrow will roll out its UP1000 motherboard, which uses a modified version of Advanced Micro Devices' Iron Gate chip set. The board is geared for systems that could sell for as little as $3,500. "This will be the lowest-cost desktop platform Alpha has ever had," said Gerry Talbot, chief technology officer of Alpha Processor, here. Shaving costs The company will also roll out a board that uses Compaq Computer's Tsunami chip set and targets systems that would sell for about $4,500. The UP2000 reduces memory-upgrade options to shave costs from an existing Alpha board aimed at a $6,000 system configuration. Both boards will use a Slot B processor module defined by Alpha Processor and based on the mechanical specs of Intel Corp.'s Slot 2 for Xeon processors. Slot B uses a massive copper heat spread and accommodates 5- or 12-V operation. The 21264 draws 1.5 to 2V and will ultimately hit 1.5 GHz, Talbot said. At PC Expo, the company will demonstrate a version of the 21264 running at 1 GHz, though it does not expect to ship such speed grades in volume until the second quarter of 2000. A 750-MHz version, made in a 0.25-micron process with aluminum interconnects,will ship in July. Samsung will bring up a 0.18-micron process with a mixture of aluminum and copper interconnects late this year. The shift is expected to yield parts at 833 MHz before year's end. Late next year, Samsung will add silicon-on-insulator and a more extensive use of copper, to yield parts as fast as 1.5 GHz eventually. June 21, 1999

To: A. A. LaFountain III who wrote (66441)	7/22/1999 10:50:00 AM
From: Charles R	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1575603

Tad, <Most of the strength for flash demand appears to be stemming from the dramatic ramp in digital cell phone handsets, so the bundling potential seems to be limited. MP3 players (e.g., Diamond Rio) are an incremental source of flash demand, but the units being produced are a fraction of the cell phone market. And I don't think there's a bundling potential there, either.> I agree with you that the bundling opportunities on the Cell phone and MP3 side are limited (I am not current on AMDs 900MHz market but there is probably some bundling opportunity there). And, I think flash is going to get a bonanza this Chrismas because of the MP3 rage and compensate for any unexpected roll off in cellphone growth. However, I remember George, in the ATML conf call, talking about tightness in the flash market on the PC side. My thinking is that as the overall flash supply tightens, it will affect the PC guys. So, I was thinking about bundling in that angle. Would that strengthen the bundling argument? Why or why not? <One of the emerging questions in the cell phone flash market is the modular assembly of SRAM and flash. It will be interesting to see if AMD's problems in the MPU are so much of a diversion that an adequate response to the flash/SRAM module opportunity doesn't get made.> Could you elaborate on this? What is the need for SRAM/Flash module in a cell phone? I can see them being on the same chip a a la some ATML products but "modules"? <There's a question begging to be asked from this memory discussion, but I'll let someone else on the thread pose it. > I don't know what question you are thinking of but I think there is a huge opportunity for high speed SRAM in communication applications - I want to see some high speed SRAMS off Fab30 ASAP. The margins are about to explode in this biz, so AMD can afford not to have world class yields to make money in this biz and could also be good way to bring up the fab. What AMD is planning on doing about this low-hanging fruit is something I would like to understand. Chuck