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To: ratan lal who wrote (31360)	10/1/1999 2:57:00 PM
From: Glenda King	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

ratan lal, <<<And engineers always find solutions once they know what the problem is. >>> Agree 100%. It's only a matter of time... glenda

To: ratan lal who wrote (31360)	10/1/1999 3:02:00 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

DRAM Prices Rise Sharply Due To Taiwan Quake (10/01/99, 6:51 a.m. ET) By News Staff, EE Times TAIPEI, Taiwan - The ripple effect of Taiwan's deadly earthquake is beginning to surface throughout Asia and beyond, affecting everything from DRAM prices to the supply of computer peripherals. Some analysts predicted shortfalls will start slowing OEMs in November, since "running wafers" ruined by the Sept. 21 quake would have shipped in the next several weeks. They warned shortages could extend into next year. The immediate impact of the quake on the global semiconductor industry was to push DRAM prices sharply higher this week on the spot market. In South Korea, unit prices for 64-Mbit DRAM modules topped $21 by midweek. Demand was highest for 8-M x 8-type PC100 DRAM modules on the North American spot market, where prices soared to $21.25. Asian analysts said that's about five times the price of memory modules in early July. Prices on the spot market were hovering around $15.50 on Sept. 20, the day before the earthquake. Micron Technology Inc. (Boise, Idaho) last week also raised OEM contract pricing for 64-Mbit DRAM chips from $7.50 to more than $9 and warned of additional price hikes to come. The increase is a result of several factors, including "just incredible demand from PC OEMs," said Kipp Bedard, Micron's vice president of investor relations. "It looks like there's probably another move upcoming fairly shortly," he added during a presentation at an investment conference in San Francisco this week. Spot-market price hikes are showing no signs of slackening, with reports indicating $19 to $20.50 as the range for 64-Mbit components, Bedard said. "There's not a lot of volume going on there because the suppliers [were] woefully short, even prior to the earthquake." Bedard's comments squared with analysts' assessments in Asia. They said worried OEMs are driving demand out of concern that production slowdowns in Taiwan will make it harder to find DRAMs as they gear up for the holiday season. As a result, systems manufacturers in South Korea and elsewhere are focusing their concerns on how long the supply crunch will last. Industry observers in Seoul said the shortfall will begin to bite in November and could extend well into the first half of 2000. Across the Taiwan Straits in mainland China, industry watchers were equally pessimistic. Since U.S. firms are their biggest customers, Taiwan's IC and system companies will seek to primarily satisfy the requirements of American clients at the expense of Asian customers, industry sources in Beijing said this week. Chinese companies declined to disclose their strategies for coping with the delays, fearing their customers will lose confidence in the ability to deliver products. There appears to be little wafer capacity coming online to take up the slack and reduce pressure on DRAM prices, industry observers said. While Samsung plans to open a new fab next spring and Micron will add another 5,000 wafers per week at overseas fabs, a new operation - Shanghai Huahong NEC Electronics Co. Ltd. - is the only new capacity in the pipeline this year. Elsewhere, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. is expected to begin setting up a facility in Singapore in early 2000. Observers there said the chip maker may accelerate that move. Also expected to suffer as a result of quake-related supply problems is Taiwan's dominant computer peripheral industry, which includes manufacturers of chip sets, monitors and mainboards for PCs. As the biggest customer for DRAMs, the PC market is sure to be hurt by dwindling supplies of peripherals in the weeks ahead. Still, industry analysts said Taiwanese peripheral makers will be able to recover from the earthquake much faster than chip makers. techweb.com

To: ratan lal who wrote (31360)	10/2/1999 12:24:00 AM
From: Jdaasoc	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 93625

ratan lal <<And engineers always find solutions once they know what the problem is. If the present RMBS engineers cant, they will find some consultants somewhere that will find the solution.>> Can you tell me what type of in-line test equipment Intel would use to probe RDRAM memory bus. RDRAM is brand new. 400/800 MHz clock/data rates and 50 Ps hold time are state of the art for test equipment. They have been working on this for what 1 to 2 weeks and have no answers. The lack of good in-line test equipment and techniques was one of Gelsingers points in his talk at ITC this week. It seems that ATE can't find some of the new problems that are occuring on hi speed chips installed in motherboards that pass with total flying colors by themselves on test equipment. john