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 : RAMTRONIAN's Cache Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Greg McDaniel who wrote (7248)	2/3/2000 1:34:00 PM
From: Harvey Allen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14464

Infineon takes 20% stake in DRAM maker in return for foundry rights By Andrew MacLellan Electronic Buyers' News (02/03/00, 11:15:51 AM EDT) Locking into production capacity in a time of scant supply, specialty memory technologist Enhanced Memory Systems Inc. has agreed to sell a 20% stake in the company to Infineon Technologies AG in exchange for guaranteed access to wafers and leading-edge process technology. In return for its minority position, Infineon has agreed to give EMS a committed wafer capacity for up to $200 million in product annually, as well as rights to its 0.2- and 0.17-micron manufacturing process, embedded DRAM technology, and 256-Mbit SDRAM product design. "As a fabless company, obviously having a committed source of supply is a key issue, particularly in a period of allocation," said David Bondurant, vice president of marketing and applications at EMS, the Colorado Springs, Colo., subsidiary of Ramtron International Corp. EMS has an existing foundry relationship under which it has access to 0.35-micron process technology at Infineon's fab in Corbeil-Essonnes, France. Under the new six-year agreement, EMS will develop 64-Mbit densities of its EDRAM and ESDRAM specialty product lines at a more advanced Infineon fab in Dresden, Germany, in addition to designing a new architecture known as Enhanced SRAM (ESRAM). "Given current market trends, the timing for combining Infineon's DRAM manufacturing assets with EMS's low-latency DRAM technology is ideal," said Jrgen Scholz, director and general manager of Infineon's Embedded and Graphics Memories Group, in a statement. The first devices will use a 0.2-micron process beginning later this year, while EMS will begin manufacturing embedded products using Infineon's 0.17-micron process in 2001, according to the company, which declined to specify what densities it would ship at that time. EMS' DRAM cores include a small amount of SRAM cache that helps the chips to hide row-access delays and functions like precharges and cell refreshes that might otherwise compromise internal clock speed. The company is pitching its technology for use in a variety of communications-oriented applications. "Our entire patented technology revolves around how do you build a faster DRAM core and integrate SRAM cache on the chip," Bondurant said. Late last year, EMS signed an agreement with Cypress Semiconductor Corp. to develop a specialty communications-memory device using what it terms ESRAM technology. While the company would not reveal details of the new product, the ESRAM component will incorporate Infineon's embedded DRAM. The idea, said Bondurant, is to develop a chip with SRAM-like speed but that also possesses desirable DRAM characteristics like higher density and lower cost and power. While EMS hopes an early look at Infineon's latest manufacturing process will give it a leg up in the market, the company is not planning to compete in the commodity DRAM segment. However, it is trying to attract other DRAM vendors with its SRAM-cache IP in the hope its technology will be incorporated in specifications defining double-data-rate and DDR-2 SDRAM. "We are soliciting major DRAM companies to implement our IP in mainstream DRAM," Bondurant said. ebnonline.com