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

To: Rich1 who wrote (77302)	8/13/2001 12:17:01 PM
From: Win Smith	Respond to of 93625

Duh Rich1 - You're an idiot. Not an uncommon affliction among the bus people, though.

To: Rich1 who wrote (77302)	8/13/2001 12:30:12 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

$8 billion in excess chip inventory still clogs supply chain, says report By Semiconductor Business News Aug 13, 2001 (5:58 AM) URL: siliconstrategies.com EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--Despite worldwide efforts to reduce chip inventories in the current downturn, the industry's supply chain is still awash with too many semiconductors--about $8 billion in excess inventory, based on new estimates released today by iSuppi Corp. here. The new iSuppli Market Intelligence Report concludes that improvement in supply channels has been slower than expected, causing average selling prices continue to drop while fab utilization declines. Consequentially, the market research firm is slashing its 2001 forecast for semiconductor sales. "While there is a modicum of good news for the personal computer, computing platform and wireless market segments with replenishment ordering for components beginning, we are revising our forecast for worldwide semiconductor revenue this year downward to $147 billion -- an annual decline of 28%," said Greg Sheppard, vice president for market intelligence services. "We see the market decline hitting bottom in the third quarter with a further 2% downward move for revenues from the previous period, with revenue growth up 4% from this low level in the last quarter of the year, thanks largely to a traditional seasonal boost from consumer purchases toward the end of the year," he added. "The reason for this gloomy forecast is quite clear -- $8 billion in excess inventories continue to put a damper on unit ordering and prices. "More than three-fourths of this inventory resides on the shelves at semiconductor suppliers and Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) providers," Sheppard said. He said 60% of the excess inventory held by contract systems manufacturers was in the networking and telecom sector "despite heavy write-downs by the leaders in this marketplace." Sheppard warned that this hangover "could well last until the second half of 2002 when capital spending upgrades and major infrastructure build-outs in China finally are expected to kick in." "We expect commodity semiconductor prices to hit bottom this quarter or next and linger there until the spring of next year," Sheppard added. "Component buyers should begin locking in long-term price contracts by the end of the year to take full advantage of the underlying glut of inventory and foundry capacity that is driving this trend."

To: Rich1 who wrote (77302)	8/13/2001 1:14:31 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Via readies Pentium 4 chipset By CNET News.com Staff August 13, 2001, 9:30 a.m. PT news.cnet.com Via Technologies is set to launch its Pentium 4 chipset in full production quantities on Wednesday, despite the threat of legal action from Intel. The Taiwan semiconductor manufacturer, the second largest chipset maker after Intel, is using both the S3 and Via brands on the new chipsets in an attempt to dodge legal trouble with Intel, motherboard makers have said. The new range of Pentium 4 chipsets from Via and others will allow the total price of a Pentium 4 system to drop by permitting the use of less expensive forms of memory, which should help Intel drive the processor into the mainstream. Chipsets are crucial to the design of a PC because they control the flow of data between the processor and other components such as memory, the hard disk and the graphics card. The launch will see Via first out of the gate with full production of a Pentium 4 chipset that supports low-cost PC-133 SDRAM memory. Also pushing similar products through are Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS), which is to begin volume production of the 645 chipset next month, and Acer Labs, which will launch its M1761 by the end of the year. All three chipsets will pair Pentium 4 with both SDRAM, the standard memory today, and double data rate (DDR) SDRAM, a next-generation standard. Intel's current 850 chipset only allows Pentium 4 to use more expensive Rambus memory. Intel will launch its own SDRAM-compatible chipset, 845, at the end of August but will not offer a DDR-compatible product until next year. Via officials have said the company does not need a license to produce the chipsets because of its recent purchase of graphics chipmaker S3, which cross-licensed technology with Intel before it became part of Via. But Intel last week sounded a warning that unauthorized chipset makers would face lawsuits. Industry analysts say Via's legal situation may be less ambiguous than it appears. "If they are infringing (Intel's patent), it wouldn't stop them from making chipsets," said IDC senior analyst Andy Brown. "They might be liable to pay a certain amount." Last summer, Via reached an out-of-court settlement with Intel over Pentium III technology after a lengthy legal battle. Amid slack demand in the semiconductor industry, Intel is looking to roll out new Pentium 4 products as smoothly as possible and may be loath to delay the chipsets from Via, which has been estimated to supply at least 40 percent of the chipsets for Intel processors. Nonetheless, Via is treading on dangerous ground. "You don't want to be too pushy with Intel...and they shouldn't count their chickens," said IDC's Brown. Third-party chipsets are taking over more market share, partly as a response to Intel's production problems last year and partly out of pricing concerns. "Via is certainly taking a much larger proportion of the market as vendors become less concerned with using Intel chipsets," Brown said. Despite concerns that Intel may not be able to meet market demand for the 845 chipset, Brown said the company has largely solved its manufacturing problems. Via declined to comment. Staff writer Matthew Broersma reported from London.

To: Rich1 who wrote (77302)	8/23/2001 2:09:08 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Opinion: Rambus faces flurry of class action lawsuits By Jack Robertson, EBN Aug 23, 2001 (10:45 AM) URL: ebnews.com Closer Look Rambus Inc. probably spends more on lawyers than on engineers, and now that disparity seems likely to grow. Last week, Rambus was hit by at least 10 stockholder class action suits, by my count. The charges range from alleging that the once high-flying firm misrepresented its revenue potential, to citing the fraud judgment against it by the federal court jury in Richmond, Va. last spring. Now, generally there are at most a couple of stockholder class action suits against any given company at one time. But the legal floodgates seem to have opened against Rambus. Not entirely surprising, given that the company's stock is trading at around $5, compared to $94 at this time last year. Time will tell if this is "ambulance chasing" by legal piranhas or whether there are justifiable claims. No doubt in the months ahead we will treated to a rehash of many of the charges against Rambus that have surfaced in the nearly dozen patent infringement law suits between the firm and three DRAM antagonists playing out on two continents. Indeed, the class action trial lawyers have already descended on Richmond to delve into the mountains of legal minutia dredged up by the Rambus suit against Infineon Technologies. However, Rambus probably won't have to pay legal costs in every single class action suit filed against it, as some courts routinely consolidate suits into a single case. In fact, the battle among the trial lawyers to survive in any suit consolidation could be more brutal than the proceedings against Rambus. Rambus, which itself started the legal snowball rolling with its original infringement suits, may come to the same conclusion as Shakespeare on what to do with all the lawyers.

To: Rich1 who wrote (77302)	8/23/2001 7:03:43 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Here is something that can't be ignored! RAMBUS INC DEL (RMBS) 4.8600 -0.4900 Change High Low Volume -0.4900 , -9.16% 5.4200 4.8600 3,168,300 stockcharts.com[w,a]djclyimy[db][pb50!b200!d20,2!f][vc60][iut!Ub14!La12,26,9!Lp14,3,3!Lf!Lc20!Lg]

To: Rich1 who wrote (77302)	8/23/2001 7:39:38 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

VIA Denies Intel’s Allegations Electronic News By Tom Murphy, Electronic News -- 8/23/01 One week after launching a chipset for the Pentium 4 processor, VIA Technologies Inc. of Taipei, Taiwan, today issued a caustic press release accusing Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corp. of using scare tactics against potential customers and allegedly misinforming people that the Taiwanese chipset maker does not have a license for the processor. "Intel has made repeated claims both in the media and in discussions with customers that we are not licensed to sell products that are compatible with the Intel Pentium 4," Richard Brown, director of marketing for VIA, stated in a press release. "We disagree with these and other scare tactics that Intel is employing in the PC industry for marketing purposes. Intel should deal with the facts openly and communicate through official press releases rather than threatening customers and sowing seeds of doubt in the market place." An Intel (nasdaq: INTC) spokesman said there is no claim of infringement and the company does not comment on potential legal actions related to its intellectual property. He also said the company has been fielding questions from the media and from customers and basically reiterating that VIA does not have a license for the Pentium. However, ATI, Ali and SiS do have licenses, the spokesman said. "That’s all we’ve said to the media and to customers," the Intel spokesman said. VIA reiterated its claim that its Apollo P4X266 chipset does not infringe on Intel’s patent. The company is going forth with the distribution of the chipset, despite claims from Intel that it acquired no license to do so. The chipset is reportedly the first on the market that will allow the P4 to interface with DDR SDRAM memory. Three other Taiwanese core logic chipset makers have been granted licenses for the P4, Intel said last week. Intel told Electronic News last week that VIA had not been issued a license for the chipset. VIA countered that it does have a license through its subsidiary, S3 Inc., the former graphics chip company that VIA now partially owns.