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Technology Stocks : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jdaasoc who wrote (27364)	8/21/1999 4:01:00 PM
From: Orion	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

FUD OR FACTS ???? Don't think this has already been posted on the thread. Nothing really new considering what we have already seen. Is everybody on the beach today ???? How lucky you are ... ebnonline.com PC133 devices fill Intel chipset gaps By Jack Robertson Electronic Buyers' News (08/20/99, 03:57:38 PM EDT) A shortage of Intel Corp.'s 440BX and 440ZX chipsets has caused an upturn in demand for competing PC133 devices, industry executives said. Via Technologies Inc., for one, has seen a sharp increase in sales of its next-generation PC133 core-logic chipsets, said Dean Hays, director of marketing for the Fremont, Calif.-based company. ?It's made it an easy decision for buyers to skip Intel and jump on the PC133 bandwagon,? said Hays, whose company has openly waged war against Intel. But industry watchers agree that the Intel chipset shortage is prompting some PC OEMs to take a closer look at PC133. And some ?have simply become earlier adopters,? said Semico Research Corp. analyst Bob Merritt, who is based in Redwood City, Calif. ?As long as they were planning to switch this fall anyway, they went ahead to order PC133 chipsets and boards now from the Taiwan independents,? he said. Intel has no PC133 chipset because it had planned to move from 100-MHz SDRAM to the forthcoming Direct Rambus DRAM. However, due to delays of Direct Rambus and Intel's own Camino chipset, several OEMs have planned to add PC133 memory to PCs this fall. Intel is now considering a PC133 chipset of its own, but has yet to announce any specific plans. Even if the Santa Clara, Calif.-based microprocessor giant were to adapt one of its new chipsets to support 133-MHz SDRAMs, the product wouldn't be available until the first half of 2000, according to an Intel spokesman. Sources believed the short supply of BX and ZX chipsets was partially caused by Intel's own production transition to its next-generation 810, 810e, and 820 Camino chipsets. And Merritt questioned whether Intel orchestrated the production shift to pressure OEMs to move more quickly to the new chipsets. As it has turned out, however, some computer makers appear to be doing the opposite, switching to the new PC133 chipsets from Via, Acer Labs, and other Taiwan-based suppliers. Intel has said its 810e and Camino chipsets will support SDRAM memory, but only 100-MHz chips. Jim Handy, an analyst at Dataquest Inc., San Jose, said most OEMs would just as soon use PC133 SDRAMs if a core logic chipset were available. In fact, PC133 yields will increase to the point that they become the predominant SDRAM available in the market, he said. With PC133 becoming prevalent in PCs this fall, Intel has come up with a transition strategy to allow board makers to use a common design that won't have to be changed in order to shift to Direct Rambus RIMM modules. The strategy involves use of what Intel calls a Memory Translator Hub (MTH) to connect either SDRAM DIMMs or Direct Rambus RIMMS to the Camino chipset. However, MTH only supports 100-MHz SDRAMs. As OEMs and motherboard makers adopt PC133 memory, somewhat fueled by the Intel BX and ZX chipset shortage, interest lessens for the MTH PC100-only board. Even so, Taiwan motherboard makers are still building product with as many of the 440BX and 440ZX chipsets as they can get. Taiwan suppliers still expect the Intel chipsets to comprise nearly half their motherboards in the second half of 1999.