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

To: Don Green who wrote (59953)	11/2/2000 2:35:53 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

Intel Confirms Plan For DDR Pentium 4 Chipset (11/02/00, 1:52 p.m. ET) By Jack Robertson, Electronic Buyers' News Confirming speculation circulating in research circles for weeks, Intel Corp. said it will adopt double-data-rate SDRAM for the company's upcoming Pentium 4 microprocessor at the point at which DDR memory "becomes mainstream in the market." Paul Otellini, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, told a webcast briefing for financial analysts that "we will take advantage of DDR after introducing a single-data-rate SDRAM chipset [for Pentium 4] next year." He didn't elaborate or indicate whether Intel (stock: INTC) would adopt third-party DDR chipsets for Pentium 4 or introduce its own version. Otellini reiterated Intel's long-held stance that RDRAM continues to be the company's memory of choice for the high-performance PC market segment, but "in the drive into multiple [market] price points, we find the need to have multiple memory solutions." In the last month, Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., has been inching toward an official word that it would introduce its own DDR desktop-PC chipset, and in a series of public statements has gradually increased its support for the interface. However, Otellini stopped short of disclosing full details of Intel's memory roadmap. As reported earlier, a confidential Intel roadmap reveals that in the third quarter next year the company will launch a single-data-rate SDRAM chipset known as Brookdale, which will be followed by a device with DDR support for Intel's upcoming Northwood-class Pentium 4 mainstream desktop processor. Additionally, a chipset known as Almador will be rolled out late in the second quarter of 2001 with both single- and double-data-rate SDRAM support for an upgraded Pentium III processor, according to the Intel roadmap. Intel's first Pentium 4, code-named Willamette, is set for launch Nov. 20 for workstation and high-end desktop-PC applications and will only support Direct RDRAM. Otellini said Intel is confident that "there is sufficient inventory, production capacity, and supplier commitment that the memory ramp will match our processor ramp. Direct Rambus won't be a ramp limiter." Otellini didn't address contractual issues related to its agreement with memory-interface designer Rambus Inc. that preclude Intel from fielding a DDR chipset until 2003. The Intel (stock: INTC) executive did say, however, that the chip giant "has recaptured its [chipset] market share" and has ramped up production of its 815 family of SDRAM logic and memory controllers. Otellini said when the 815 was introduced early this year, it was production-limited because Intel's fab capacity was devoted primarily to processor output. "In Q3 we were able to get enough capacity to build a much higher volume of 815 chipsets," he said. "We have gained back the chipset market share we previously held." Separately, Otellini gave the first hint of a totally new processor Intel is developing solely for the notebook PC market. He didn't elaborate, but said it's the first processor the company has designed from scratch exclusively for mobile PCs.

To: Don Green who wrote (59953)	11/2/2000 3:00:42 PM
From: Jerry Miller	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

"...anything new from...Fred Hager ? " he sent this e-mail to members a couple of days ago. Subject: Fredhager.com Email Update 10.31.00 (Text Version) Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 16:48:6 -1200 From: "Fredhager.com" <members@fredhager.com> Rambus News Rambus has suffered a decline in price today due to an unverified report that pointed to Intel dropping Rambus from all but high-end workstations after the second quarter of 2001. The alleged news from Intel was originally published in Electronic Business News over the weekend, and it was re-released earlier today on many of the business wires. The article cites a confidential roadmap obtained from Intel that shows Rambus-based systems, like the 820 and 850 discontinued from the roadmap by mid-2001. Intel has not confirmed any of this, and we are awaiting more news from the company. We believe this does not change our Rambus outlook in the least bit, but it does put more fear into the minds of Rambus investors. Now, more than ever, many people are convinced Rambus is relying upon their intellectual property claims to produce their revenue. And that may be true. We believe RDRAM is the best memory for processors with increasing speeds, and it is the logical solution for future systems. We do not believe this news is anything that threatens Rambus, but we will push back our $200 target to March of this year, due to the speculation. This does not mean we have changed our long-term outlook for Rambus - we haven't. And Rambus may very well meet our original target. But, like last year's delay with the 820 when we had to push our target out a few months, we will also this year. For the record, we did meet our revised target last year, and we believe if events proceed as we are confident they will with Rambus' legal pursuits, both our near and long-term targets will be met. Additionally, DDR chipsets were announced yesterday from AMD, which has also added to the fear over the future of the Rambus technology. While 1.2 GHz DDR has been introduced, the preliminary benchmark testing does not show a much-improved performance benefit over current SDRAM. By most accounts, there seems to be at best an 8-10% increase in performance. Also, the pricing of DDR, while for quite some time was promised to be on par with SDRAM, is significantly more expensive, and closer to the pricing of the upcoming Pentium 4 at 1.4 GHz with Rambus. Remember, just because a news article has been published, verifiable or not, it does not change the performance of Rambus, nor does it alter any patents already locked up by the company. The mood might be different now, and the only thing that will change this is the verifiable performance from the P4, and licensing agreements. Rambus is not, and has never been an easy stock to own. But we have been rewarded in the past for cutting through the nonsense, and sticking to the fundamentals. This time last year Rambus was considered dead due to the delay in the 820. Currently, it is still one of the best investments of 2000. The Rambus story has not changed, despite the volumes of negative articles that have been published over the years. We believe Rambus will prevail in the courts and the company and its shareholders will be rewarded by both their intellectual property and their current RDRAM technology. In closing, we believe Intel will not drop Rambus from any roadmap if the performance of the P4 is strong enough to support volume production. An Intel spokesperson reiterated their support for Rambus today, saying that Rambus is the primary solution for their performance desktop solutions. If RDRAM pricing drops from its current 50% premium over SDRAM to within 20% by the end of 2001, as both Intel and Rambus predict, and the performance is greater than 30%, as Intel has stated, there will be little motivation for the market to choose SDRAM or DDR solution over Rambus. These projections have been verified by Rambus and Intel, and is what we believe is more important to focus on than an unverifiable, unpublished roadmap, from a questionable source. Thank you, The Fredhager.com Staff