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To: Tony Viola who wrote (157922)	2/6/2002 7:23:04 PM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 186894

Micron's new flash chip challenges Intel By David Becker Special to ZDNet News February 6, 2002, 1:25 PM PT Chipmaker Micron Technology has taken another step in its effort to challenge Intel in the market for high-end flash memory, releasing samples of its new Q-Flash chips to manufacturers Wednesday. The design of Q-Flash is similar to that of Intel's StrataFlash and lets chips read data much faster than ordinary flash chips can. Micron is positioning the chips as an alternative to StrataFlash, which dominates the market for high-performance flash chips. Flash memory is used in devices such as handheld computers and cell phones to store applications and data. Unlike the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) used in PCs, flash memory retains data when power is shut off. Micron already makes standard and low-power flash chips for consumer devices and other uses. Q-Flash will be targeted at more demanding applications such as networking equipment. Alan Niebel, chief executive of Web-Feet Research, said Micron will have to work hard to woo customers away from Intel. "You need something that's going to be able to differentiate you from the others, which is fast read-speed," Niebel said. "Initially, though, it's going to mainly be about price...They're trying to follow in the wake Intel has made opening up this market, so they'll keep the prices low and look to get manufacturers to try them as a second source." Both companies also face a challenge from Toshiba and SanDisk, which are developing a different type of high-speed flash design. Micron said in a statement that it is now sending samples of 32-megabit Q-Flash chips to manufacturers, with 64-megabit chips set to go out in the next quarter.

To: Tony Viola who wrote (157922)	2/6/2002 9:23:29 PM
From: Dan3	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 186894

Re: Also, was it a friendly buyout? This is just speculation, but they most likely turned down more money from Intel for a chance to become part of AMD. I'm basing that guess on the weird lag between the time of the initial new leaks and the actual announcement. I'm sure it was like the X-box chip that AMD had all but won, and the corporate desktop placements that AMD had received assurances on. Intel got wind of it, and tried to bribe those guys away from AMD. There is no way AMD could afford what Intel would have offered, so it looks like the folks at Alchemy just decided it would be better to be working at AMD with Dirk Meyer in charge of strategic development, than at Intel with Comrade Lysenko's spiritual heirs dictating that Rambus was a faster, cheaper, memory product - no questions allowed - so the proletariat engineers had better learn to love it... It should have been worth a heck of a lot of money to Intel to buy this particular technology and bury it. But some people are just more interested in the work than the money.