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.

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

To: Goutam who wrote (82234)	12/7/1999 3:26:00 PM
From: Charles R	Respond to of 1577512

Goutama, <A must read article for all interested in the Memory Technologies - DDR vs DRD. It contains Hundai's take on the DDR and DRD Memory stuff - ebnews.com __________________________ IDC report places Hyundai in DRAM market lead By Andrew MacLellan, Electronic Buyers' News, (12/07/99, 12:24:53 PM EDT) > Thanks for posting. Yes DDRDRAM is positioned for success a lot better than RDRAM. I expect a good chunk of the CuMine+RDRAM combos to fall by the wayside unless the ASPs come down significantly - especially if AMD makes progress with Business SKUs. I agree with most of what is said but I do expect RDRAM to have somewhat more healthier market share than Hyundai expects. Probably more in line with what Samsung says - thanks to PSII and Timna. Chuck

To: Goutam who wrote (82234)	12/7/1999 3:29:00 PM
From: Goutam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577512

An interesting article. Please note that there is some important Athlon related stuff at the very end of this article - ebnews.com ____________________________ Samsung races to secure Compaq design win with next-generation Alpha CPU By Jack Robertson, Electronic Buyers' News, (12/07/99, 10:43:50 AM EDT) Two semiconductor industry giants are locked in a race to capture a key design win for the next-generation Alpha microprocessor, a trophy device that is expected to feature a number of innovative design and manufacturing techniques. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said it will try to edge out IBM Microelectronics by bringing the EV7 Alpha processor to market in volume by the third quarter of 2000. Samsung is expected to begin sampling devices sometime in the first half of next year in the hope it can beat its U.S. rival to market. Samsung is now supplying Compaq Computer Corp. with an earlier version of the Alpha processor, the EV6, but its future supply relationship is uncertain, according to Daeje Chin, executive vice president of Samsung's System LSI group and president of the company's subsidiary, Alpha Processor Inc. (API). IBM is in talks with Compaq, which designed the original Alpha architecture, and could land a contract to supply the computer marker with the processor on a foundry basis. Although the company refused to comment on the status of the negotiations or disclose a possible release date for its EV7 Alpha design, industry sources said IBM has provided Compaq with a prototype device that is being evaluated. "There is nothing new to report," said a spokesman for IBM Microelectronics, Fishkill, N.Y. "We and Compaq have bee in talks about the possibility of us manufacturing the next-generation Alpha chips using our copper technology." Chin admitted that given IBM's manufacturing might, Samsung will be forced to battle to keep Compaq's business. Samsung is eager to bring out the next-generation Alpha to demonstrate its ability to incorporate copper interconnects within the chip's architecture and integrate the core-logic, memory controller, and cache memory. Manufactured using a 0.18-micron design rule, the EV7 will run at 1-GHz speeds, according to Chin. One of the few volume suppliers to champion the Alpha architecture, Samsung said it will migrate to a 0.13-micron process in 2001 at which point it will incorporate silicon-on-insulator technology into the design-a technique IBM and other chip companies also are developing. According to Chin, the market for Alpha chips stands at $100 million, and sales are projected to grow to $140 million next year. Through designs provided by its API subsidiary, Samsung will also enter the Alpha EV6 chipset and motherboard markets next year, Chin said. An EV6 single-processor chipset called Caspian will sample in March and enter production in the third quarter, while a higher performance four- to eight-way server chipset called Tasman will be launched in 2001. Chin said API has also designed motherboards using the upcoming Caspian chipset. The chipsets and motherboards all will be manufactured by Samsung in Korea. In addition to serving the Alpha market, the new devices will allow Samsung to engage the chipset market spurred by Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s Athlon CPU, which uses the same EV6 bus line as the Alpha, according to Chin. "Building chipsets for both microprocessors will create larger production economies of scale for lower cost," he said. The new Alpha/Athlon chipsets will support PC133 and DDR SDRAM memory chips, but not Direct Rambus DRAM. Despite the dedication of Samsung's semiconductor subsidiary to the high-speed interface, Chin said that the OEMs the new chipsets are targeting haven't yet selected Direct RDRAM as a memory option. ebnews.com ____________________________ Goutama