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

To: richard surckla who wrote (77030)	8/9/2001 12:09:46 PM
From: froland	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

RDRAM News From WirelessWeek: Already been posted from the KoreaHerald. However, it's interesting to see RDRAM showing up on news feeds from wireless sites. Samsung Begins Mass Production Of 3G Chip August 9, 2001 The Korea Herald via NewsEdge Corporation : 08/08/2001 By Yang Sung-jin Staff reporter Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip maker, yesterday said it has started mass production of third-generation 256Mb Rambus DRAM chips, signaling its move away from 128Mb chips. Samsung's latest technology utilizes a 0.15micron procedure, empowering its 256Mb Rambus DRAM (dynamic random access memory) with 1GHz processing speed. The 0.15micron-based production is the latest in a series of developments in the technology. The first-generation DRAM used a 0.19 micron procedure and the second-generation opted for 0.17 micron. 'The third-generation 256Mb Rambus DRAM production is now replacing 128Mb Rambus DRAM as the mainstream product,' Samsung said. The chip maker said it expects 256Mb Rambus DRAM will take center stage in the chip market from late this year. The 0.15micron technology applied to 256Mb Rambus DRAM production improves the chip output per wafer by 30 percent compared with 0.17 micron, while the internal signal processing speed has been also upgraded from 800MHz to 1GHz or faster. S amsung said it has also reduced the size of the new 256Mb Rambus DRAM chips, ensuring their price competitiveness in comparison to SDRAM. Rambus DRAM chips are now used for digital products requiring high performances such as high-end PCs, workstations and game consoles. Samsung said digital TV sets, set-top boxes and next-generation digital media will use Rambus DRAM chips, expanding the market further. Samsung expects that its Rambus DRAM chips will take a central role in the market for memory chips for mobile, entertainment and interactive communications digital media, the demand for which is expected to jump in coming years despite falling PC sales. Samsung controls about 60 percent of the global Rambus DRAM market. The company plans to mass produce the fourth-generation Rambus DRAM based on 0.13 micron technology at the end of this year. It also plans to produce 4Bank Rambus DRAM chips in the first half of next year. The 4Bank Rambus chips are 3 percent smaller than SDRAM chips, making them 10 percent cheaper than their DDR counterparts when mass produced, suggesting a faster penetration in the market, Samsung said. Intel's new Pentium 4 chip, which was expected to drive memory sales because it works best with fast-memory chips, is designed to work smoothly with Rambus memory-chip technology, developed by U.S.-based Rambus. But Rambus itself has struggled with patent-infringement battles with memory makers over licensing. Meantime, a few companies, including Samsung Electronics, are producing and making profits from Rambus chips, while other players in the chip sector are mired in a prolonged slump. Research firm Gartner Dataquest has forecast 2001 would be the memory chip sector's worst year. Gartner has forecast global DRAM chip sales will fall 55.5 percent to $14 billion from $31.5 billion in 2000. Memory chipmakers are pinning their hopes on a possible recovery in the second half. One hopeful sign is that video-game consoles are expected to be big sellers this Christmas, at least in the U.S. market. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo plan to aggressively market their own models, which will jack up demand for memory chips. And Intel continues to slash prices for its Pentium 4 chips in a bid to push them into the mainstream market. As a result, the street price for Pentium 4 desktop PCs in major distribution outlets in Seoul has gone from over 2 million won to around 1 million won apiece, expanding its market share at a brisk pace. Microsoft is set to release a new version of its Windows operating system software, Windows XP, in October. Windows XP will require more memory than any of the other versions of Windows currently in use, analysts said. (insight@koreaherald.co.kr) All Material Subject to Copyright Copyright 2001: The Korea Herald. All Rights Reserved. Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire wirelessweek.com froland