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Technology Stocks : RAMBUS (Nasdaq: RMBS) - THE EAGLE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: richard surckla who wrote (578)	1/9/2000 10:19:00 AM
From: richard surckla	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2039

Avo Kanadjian speaks... Date: 01/08 00:13 EST Samsung exec joins Rambus as DRAM battle lines are drawn Jan. 07, 2000 (Electronic Buyers News - CMP via COMTEX) -- Two key DRAM teams-Samsung Semiconductor Inc. and Rambus Inc.-changed marketing quarterbacks last week as they head into this year's high-stakes memory playoffs. But both companies conceded that OEM customers, not their own executive changes, will ultimately determine the winners in the contest between Direct Rambus DRAM and emerging double-data-rate (DDR) SDRAM. Avo Kanadjian, veteran senior vice president of memory marketing at Samsung Semiconductor, San Jose, resigned to join Rambus as vice president of worldwide marketing. He was succeeded by Robert Eminian, vice president of e-commerce at the Korean chip maker's U.S. subsidiary. Kanadjian's departure stunned many within the U.S. chip industry, given his senior ranking at the world's leading DRAM supplier. When reached last week, he said that he "thrived on advancing the leading edge of memory technology. Rambus is poised to take off in the market, and I want to be part of the movement." Kanadjian takes over duties formerly held by Subodh Toprani, who was named vice president of Rambus late last year, as previously reported. Sherry Garber, an analyst at Semico Research Corp., Phoenix, said the shifts put strong, seasoned marketing executives at both companies. "Both Samsung and Rambus will be well positioned in the memory battle for market dominance," she said. Kanadjian is the third top-level executive to leave Samsung in the past year. Keith McDonald, senior vice president of sales and marketing, left last March to become president of Smart Modular Inc., Fremont, Calif. Samsung eliminated the position after his departure. Michael McCarthy resigned last April as national distribution manager to join Pro Associates Inc., a San Jose-based manufacturers' representative. Eminian has been with Samsung for 11 years, and worked as director of planning and strategic marketing under Kanadjian until he was named a year ago to head the company's newly established e-commerce operation. Prior to joining Samsung, he held various marketing posts at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Eminian told EBN last week that such changes are "a way of life in Silicon Valley. We did flatten out the executive structure, but we're now a much faster, leaner organization. Samsung Semiconductor continues to have a depth of resources and talent to maintain its No. 1 position in the market." Garber agreed that Samsung is the leading memory-chip vendor in the U.S. market, as well as globally. However, she said the company is now being challenged aggressively at the OEM level by the strengthened Micron Technology Inc. and Hyundai MicroElectronics Co. Ltd., the latter of which absorbed LG Semicon Co. Ltd. last year. Also at stake is the future success of DDR SDRAM, which Micron and Hyundai have strongly endorsed, and Direct RDRAM, which has received a wealth of support from Samsung. Kanadjian said new versions of Direct RDRAM and new applications will propel the packet-data chip. "Also, one factor very much in Rambus' favor is the increasing memory granularity problem with new, higher-density generations of SDRAMs," he added. Kanadjian said Direct RDRAM's narrow bandwidth enables OEM customers to upgrade memory in 16-Mbyte increments, while upcoming 256-Mbit SDRAMs can only be upgraded in 64-Mbyte increments. "Customers will increasingly find they end up with unneeded amounts of memory using 256-Mbit SDRAMs," he said. Samsung's Eminian, long regarded as an outspoken advocate of the rival DDR SDRAM, will now also back Direct RDRAM in his new marketing post. He conceded that he has "found DDR intriguing," but said Samsung has positioned itself to sell any of the three main DRAM types in whatever quantities the customer wants. "It's the customer who will determine how the competitive DRAM market plays out," he said. Eminian expects the DRAM battle this year "to be as heated as 1999. I never saw such engineering passion behind each of the three DRAM architectures as last year. Now, it's time to let the market take over." -0- By: Jack Robertson Copyright 2000 CMP Media Inc.