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.

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

To: jhg_in_kc who wrote (41430)	5/6/2000 1:23:00 AM
From: milo_morai	Respond to of 93625

You must not have a understanding of RMBS performance and the difference of PC600, PC700 and PC800. Next time read more in depth before commenting. There is no FUD just Facts! "Rambus availability, yields could dictate Intel chip performance "But for Intel, the clock is ticking. First samples of the Tehama Memory Controller Hub are slated to ship to OEMs in late June or early July, about two weeks before samples of the 1.4-GHz Willamette microprocessors are expected, sources said. A formal launch is slated for September or early October. As the introduction date nears, however, Intel's customers are engaging in a quiet but intense discussion over the rumored existence of an enhanced memory translator hub (MTH+). While they disagree whether Intel has committed to the option, several customers close to Intel's product-development efforts say the company is seriously considering a plan to field in the second half of this year an MTH+ to support PC133 memory as an adjunct to the Willamette platform." ebns.com " If this happens INTC is showing it's Backing away from RMBS as it's mainstream. And this part proves RMBS yeilds continue to be poor if we are stuck going down to PC600 which is far worse than PC133. PC133 and a BX beats PC700 pants down. You need PC800 to even be on PAR PC133. More on INTC hedging against RMBS "...Intel, of course, wants to avoid undermining its next-generation platform based purely on cost and availability considerations, observers said, particularly at the Willamette's point of introduction. Intel contends the 3.2-Gbyte/s bandwidth of the Tehama chipset virtually requires Direct RDRAM memory, and the company has designed its chipsets accordingly. Intel customers say the company is hedging its bets by adding support for cheaper, higher-yield PC600 Direct RDRAM to certain Willamette chipsets. What's more, they say, Intel is adding a single-channel Direct Rambus chipset, the Tulloch, to help move the Willamette and Rambus platform down to the sub-$1,500 PC in 2001 (see story). Whether Intel will be able to offer the maximum possible performance with its Willamette/Tehama/Direct RDRAM package is largely dependent on the availability of the highest Rambus speed grades. And that's an open question, according to DRAM makers. Even Samsung Semiconductor Inc., the major volume supplier of Direct Rambus DRAM to the PC market, conceded that yields of the most desired 800-MHz Rambus version are still too low.. Bob Eminian, vice president of marketing at the San Jose company, said Samsung expects to devote up to 20% of its product mix to Direct RDRAM this year, but that only 20% of Rambus chips now shipping are binned out at 800 MHz. ?And that's a factor of yields,? Eminian said. Intel's second concern is that short supplies of Direct RDRAM could restrict the availability of Willamette platforms using the Tehama -- and even the lower-end Tulloch -- chipsets, observers said. ebns.com Down to PC600 that's gotta suck even worse then the PC700 move from PC800. RMBS makers are getting desperate to sell the chips they have. Milo

To: jhg_in_kc who wrote (41430)	5/6/2000 1:23:00 AM
From: Scumbria	Respond to of 93625

JHG, i see no ugly news Did you catch the part of the article that said that Intel may be supporting SDRAM on Willy chipsets? As the introduction date nears, however, Intel's customers are engaging in a quiet but intense discussion over the rumored existence of an enhanced memory translator hub (MTH+). While they disagree whether Intel has committed to the option, several customers close to Intel's product-development efforts say the company is seriously considering a plan to field in the second half of this year an MTH+ to support PC133 memory as an adjunct to the Willamette platform." ebns.com Scumbria

To: jhg_in_kc who wrote (41430)	5/6/2000 1:28:00 AM
From: milo_morai	Respond to of 93625

Bad as the SDRAM supply situation is getting for mainstream consumers, the shortage could throw a wrench into the plans of Intel Corp. and Rambus Inc. to ramp Direct RDRAM production sharply in the second half. Semico's Garber agreed that memory vendors are loath to trade SDRAM production for Direct RDRAM, where initial yields are likely to be low. Samsung estimated Direct RDRAM could constitute 20% of its total DRAM shipments this year. Analysts noted that as the only vendor shipping Rambus in quantity to the computer market, Samsung is enjoying high margins, which it wants to maintain. Indeed, Eminian said Samsung has yet to substantially lower its Direct RDRAM RIMM module prices since it began volume shipments last November. Avo Kanadjian, vice president of marketing at Rambus, Mountain View, Calif., said Direct RDRAM prices will come down sharply this fall as more suppliers ramp production. Module manufacturer Kingston Technology Co., Fountain Valley, Calif., cut its RIMM prices an average of 35% last month, although the modules are still three to four times the price of a comparably sized SDRAM module, according to Garber. Other suppliers said it is not clear how much Rambus production they will ramp this fall. "We'll deliver whatever our customers want," said Jeff Mailloux, DRAM marketing manager at Micron Technology Inc., Boise, Idaho. "Right now, we're talking with OEMs about their DRAM requirements for the third quarter, and we're getting mixed signals on their demand for Direct Rambus." Ron Bechtold, vice president of Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc.'s DRAM division in San Jose, said DDR chips could be cushioned from the same issues facing Rambus, given that the interface is manufactured in much the same way as SDRAM. "We can wait very late in the production cycle to determine whether the wafer will be used for [single-data-rate] SDRAM or DDR-much closer to actual market demand," Bechtold said. Hitachi's quandary, ironically, is how much production capacity to allocate to trailing-edge EDO DRAM in the face of mounting SDRAM shortages. Bechtold said that as one of the few suppliers still making EDO, Hitachi is enjoying high margins on the older memory, which is still being used by many OEMs. "But you want to plan EDO production very carefully," he said. "You don't want the market to suddenly disappear and be left with a lot of inventory you can't sell." The third-quarter fate of Direct Rambus is being set now in a multitude of memory-supply negotiations between vendors and OEMs. It takes memory makers three months from wafer start to finished chip, which means producers are allocating their DRAM production now for chips that will come to market in the third quarter. Mailloux expressed a sentiment echoed by a number of other top-tier DRAM producers considering how much of their precious capacity to allocate to Direct RDRAM. "Rambus isn't going to enter the mainstream market until its large price differential over SDRAMs is drastically reduced," he said. "Because the majority of PC OEMs want to buy the cheapest memory possible, Rambus is going to have to cut the differential with SDRAM to nearly zero." ebnonline.com