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

To: Don Green who wrote (48571)	7/31/2000 9:42:57 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Rambus breaks 1GHz Paul Kallender Jul 31, 2000 --- Rambus Inc. today said it predicted volume production of the 1,066MHz RDRAM should begin in 2000. The company says the new chip, which is a short channel version that can support up to four devices, can provide 2.1Gbit/sec. of bandwidth per device on a Rambus Channel. Rambus claims the 1,066MHz RDRAM, which is a simple bin split of its mainstay but still difficult to produce 800MHz RDRAM device, provides a 33 percent increase in performance. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company said it is targeting the memory module consumer, graphics and communications applications such OC-192 line cards, video consoles, HDTVs, set-top boxes, digital video recorders, and sealed box Information appliances. And the company called out big-gun memory makers saying they were looking forward to producing the chip. Samsung Semiconductor Inc., Hyundai Electronics, Toshiba Corp., NEC Electronics Inc. and Infineon Technologies; clock-chip partners Cypress Semiconductor Corp., Integrated Circuit Systems Inc., International Microcircuits Inc. and test equipment partner Advantest Corp. said they will support the chip, according to Rambus, with several executives providing testimonials to their commitment. “We went back to our RDRAM partners and established the fact that they could test and deliver 1,066 parts by simply creating a new speed bin,” Rambus’ Avo Kanadjian, vice president of worldwide marketing, told Electronic News today. In addition, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is offering foundry support. Cypress Semiconductor Corp. of San Jose today separately said it had begun sampling its 533MHz Direct Rambus clock generator for the 1,066MHz chip. Available in two versions with different frequency multiplier tables, the clock generator comes in a 24 pin 150-mil Shrink Small Outline Packages for $7.50 per 10,000. Cypress says it will go into volume production in the first quarter of 2001. “All the infrastructure is in place right now,” Kanadjian said. Kanadjian declined to say when exactly the chip would be available in 2001 but said that since the chip's supply chain was already in place, the manufacturers could move into sampling and production as soon as OEMs created the demand. The move proves the scalability of RDRAM technology and could prove a segue into lowering prices and increasing volume for the costly and relatively difficult to produce 800MHz version, according to Cahners In-Stat Group analyst Steve Cullen. “The assumption is not that it needs to go up 200MHz … the benefit may be that the price [of the 800MHz] goes down because the yield goes up a whole lot,” Cullen said. The 800MHz iteration has formed the mainstay of Rambus-based memory products for about a year now, but has been plagued by relatively poor yield and low sales. Rambus memory costs between 50 percent and 300 percent more than SRAM with Samsung, which accounts for more than 50 percent of global production, only recently passing its 10 millionth chip. Bert McComas, founder and principal analyst at InQuest, said that best way RDRAM makers could improve yields and reduce costs was to invest more money in production. electronicnews.com