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

To: Jeffry K. Smith who wrote (32053)	10/13/1999 4:23:00 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 93625

Rambus and the Camino effect By Om Malik NEW YORK. 1:16 PM EDT-Intel Corp.'s (nasdaq: INTC) highly anticipated Camino chipset, officially called the 820, is wreaking havoc on a PC industry. From memory chip makers to Rambus--everyone is patiently waiting for the revolutionary new chipset that is going to make personal computers even faster. According to sources close to Intel, on Oct. 25, the company , Intel will try to re-launch the much-delayed chipset, along with the announcement of its next generation Pentium III chips, codenamed, Coppermine. These Coppermine chips, made on a 0.18-micron manufacturing technology, are likely to put Intel on a more n even footing with rival Advanced Micro Devices' (nyse: AMD) super speedy Athlon chips. Intel's decision on Camino has a domino effect on the technology industry, since most computer and PC component makers depend either directly or indirectly on these chips for their own products. Camino was to be launched on Sept. 27, 1999 but was delayed due to some technical snags. The delay sent shivers around the technology world, severely affecting companies like Rambus (nasdaq: RMBS), which that depend heavily on Intel's on Intel for a fiscal future. While an Intel spokesperson confirmed the Coppermine launch, he declined to comment on the fate of Camino. Intel and Rambus need to line up support from personal computer- makers in order to push Camino hard in the market. In its earnings conference call on Tuesday, Intel indicated that it would release a reworked Camino sometime during the fourth quarter 1999. , without giving any specific dates. Intel disclosed in late-September that its Camino 820 chipset would be delayed due to memory-bus related problems. Intel and Rambus have not publicly disclosed what the problems are, but industry newsletter The Microprocessor Report says that there are memory reliability issues on systems that have three memory slots. At the time, Intel said it would have to resolve platform validation issues before it couldan ship the 820 Intel. But these problems have apparently been resolved seems to have fixed those problems, according to those familiar with the company. , and has put its manufacturing partners on alert. Now the word is that the reworked Camino-820 design will have a two-slot module implementation. If Intel decides to go ahead with the launch, expect a rapid ramp of Camino-based PC shipments. There are about 20 million Rambus-ready memory parts sitting with memory chipmakers like Samsung, Hyundai and NEC of Japan. This means at least 2 million personal computers can be shipped once Intel gives the green light. Many on Wall Street remain cautious about the launch of the chipset. "Intel and Rambus and other PC OEMs are working hard on system validations to launch the systems on Oct. 25, but they are likely to delay it unless every thing is absolutely pure," says Greg Mischou, semiconductor analyst with Warburg Dillon Read in San Francisco. "There are a lot of different combinations that need to be tested and Intel is going to exhaust all tests before launching this product," says Mark Edelstone, semiconductor analyst with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. And even if everything works, it is unlikely that Rambus-based PCs will hit the shelves before the first quarter of 2000, he says. Whichever way, Intel is playing its cards very close to the its chest and details are still unclear about the final version of Camino. Intel may inform its partners and contract manufacturers about the fate of Camino as early as this Friday. The chip set is essentially a combination of chips that controls the flow of data within a computer. Intel's Camino 820 is the first chipset made by Intel that supports the 4X Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) interface and a 133-MHz front side bus that matches the speed of the latest high-speed processors running at 533- and 600-MHz speeds. Regardless of what happens with the 820, a U.K.-based publication, The Register, is reporting that the next generation of Rambus-based chipsets, the Carmel 840, is going to ship for $250 a piece. forbes.com