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

To: jim kelley who wrote (49921)	8/15/2000 8:02:25 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Hi all; News about Toshiba and NEC, with some impact on Rambus... NEC, Toshiba introduce 0.18-micron processes in DRAM fabs Toshiba, attempting get an early start on high-density devices and steer clear of competition for more mainstream parts, has opted to wind down production of 128-Mbit synchronous DRAMs in favor of Rambus and 256-Mbit devices as it keeps a lid on new DRAM wafer starts. ... NEC in recent months began shifting to 0.18-micron process rules starting with its 288-Mbit Rambus DRAMs, which the company is betting will penetrate the high-end servers and workstations and then trickle down to desktop systems. The parts have shown early signs of improved yields over 64-Mbit and 128-Mbit-generation Rambus parts, which thus far have largely failed to become mainstream devices due to their high production cost and some DRAM vendors' refusal to make production commitments. ... The new process rules and additional wafer starts will boost NEC's total DRAM production output from 20 million 64-Mbit equivalent devices to more than 26 million by next March. Most of the new capacity will be allocated for 128-Mbit SDRAMs, which will jump from 6 million units per month last May to 12.5 million next March. After a peak of 10 million units last March, output of 64-Mbit DRAMs will fall to 5 million by December and then to 1.5 million next March. NEC's production of 128-Mbit Rambus DRAMs will remain at 1 million per month for the rest of the fiscal year, while 288-Mbit Rambus production will hit 750,000 units in December, increasing to 1.25 million next March. ... Currently producing 21 million 64-Mbit-equivalent DRAMs, Toshiba's total output will rise to 23 million units per month by December as it introduces the new process and puts more emphasis on 256-Mbit production. Production of 128-Mbit SDRAMs is slated to fall from 6.5 million units this September to 5 million units by year's end. Also by the end of the year, Toshiba plans to produce 1 million SDRAMs and 500,000 Rambus DRAMs at the 256-Mbit density. Toshiba, which is providing 128-Mbit Rambus DRAMs for Sony's Playstation 2, will churn out 3 million of those devices by the same period. ... semibiznews.com Of the three DRAM companies that have signed SDRAM royalty agreements with Rambus, only Toshiba was still a major producer of the stuff. Hitachi is only in the business until the end of the year, while OKI has been planning on exiting commodity memory for a couple years, and now produces mostly obsolete EDO and FPM DRAM instead of the SDRAM covered by the Rambus royalty agreement. Toshiba, on the other hand, had only given hints that its memory business was winding down (mostly by outsourcing packaging for new DRAM types). The above news suggests to me that Toshiba is also planning on exiting the (low margin) commodity memory business, and is instead planning on concentrating on RDRAM, a niche memory. -- Carl