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

To: Dave B who wrote (39106)	3/31/2000 7:20:00 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 93625

PlayStation2 Looms Large At Tokyo Game Show Saturday, April 1, 2000 TOKYO (Nikkei)--Tokyo Game Show 2000 opened Friday at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba Prefecture, with 66 companies exhibiting some 400 products. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s PlayStation2, which made its debut on March 4, was a major presence, with more than 40% of the products on display targeted at the popular new console. Rival Sega Enterprises Ltd. (7964) showcased its Dreamcast console, which enables multiple players to interact over the Internet. "An experiment with a fiber-optic network linking video arcades in Tokyo will be conducted in July, and we plan to launch a commercial version covering a dozen or so game centers around the country by year-end," said Sega President Shoichiro Irimajiri. Microsoft Corp. hosted a gathering to introduce the X-Box, which the U.S. firm expects to debut in the fall of 2001. The trade show is open to the public on Saturday and Sunday. As many as 150,000 game fans are expected to attend over the weekend. (The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Saturday morning edition)

To: Dave B who wrote (39106)	3/31/2000 9:50:00 PM
From: Jdaasoc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

More production numbers bandied about. 2 M now up to 6 M per month from Toshiba by end of year. john ebns.com NEC, Toshiba to outsource Rambus package assembly By Jack Robertson Electronic Buyers' News (03/31/00, 10:43:21 AM EST) NEC Corp. and Toshiba Corp., two of the industry's first chip makers to ramp up Direct Rambus DRAM production, indicated this week that the companies will separately begin outsourcing the memory chip's packaging operations. Interviewed this week by EBN in Tokyo, executives at both companies said it would be more cost effective to outsource the chip's micro-BGA package assembly that to make the investments required to assemble the devices in-house. Neither company would identify which contractors are being considered for the task, which marks the first instance in which major DRAM manufacturers have considered handing off chip packaging to another party. Traditionally, DRAM vendors have handled back-end test and assembly internally, due to the cost structure associated with the commodity memory's extremely high production volumes. The added complexity and cost of the micro-BGA packages, however, has caused NEC and Toshiba to reconsider their back-end operational structure. Toshihide Fujii, general manager of semiconductor strategic planning at Toshiba, said the company already is using a Japanese contractor to assemble the Direct Rambus micro-BGA packages built for Sony Corp.'s PlayStation-II game console. He added that Toshiba is outsourcing most of its DRAM module assembly as part of a previously announced supply-chain management contract with memory-module manufacturer Kingston Technology Co., Fountain Valley, Calif. Keiichi Shimakura, associate senior vice president of NEC, said the company is looking into outsourcing micro-BGA package assembly, but will continue to do its own testing of all Direct RDRAM devices. Even though Direct Rambus requires expensive new testers costing several million dollars each, ?we want to retain control over this critical part of the back-end process,? he said. Shimakura added that NEC currently is considering a large investment in new testers for Direct Rambus, depending on how fast the new memory chips ramp up in the market. NEC declined to discuss its Direct RDRAM production levels, although Shimakura said the company has the capacity to make 1 million units a month. Fujii said Toshiba is producing 2 million Direct Rambus chips a month, mostly for the Sony console. He said Toshiba is expanding production to start selling Direct RDRAM into the PC and workstation markets, and has set a production target of up to 6 million units a month by the end of the year