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Technology Stocks : Cymer (CYMI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: flickerful who wrote (7968)	11/3/1997 1:27:00 PM
From: D.J.Smyth	Respond to of 25960

i apologize if the post was "misleading", the tic chart on SVGI ran up $.75 in less than five minutes, so someone poked somone. as for SVGI presenting in the first half of the day, call SVGI. it was an assumption - the quick run up on potential anticipation. who knows

To: flickerful who wrote (7968)	11/3/1997 1:50:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 25960

An example of what going to .25 micron will do for a company and its products. How are you going to compete? (Hint: You better get CYMI in your fab).......................... Samsung Alpha Chip - 700MHz A Conservative Estimate ****Samsung Alpha Chip - 700MHz A Conservative Estimate 11/03/97 SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1997 NOV 3 (NB) -- By Craig Menefee. Samsung not only plans to start selling a 700 megahertz (MHz) Alpha central processing unit (CPU) starting next summer, but that speed is a conservative estimate, according to the senior group manager for Samsung America's Alpha chip project, Y. J. Kim. Kim told Newsbytes that he was surprised and gratified by the worldwide interest generated when Samsung told a South Korean newspaper almost off-handedly last week it will sell 700MHz Alpha CPU chips starting next summer. He said that the firm is already ramping up to production and 700MHz is a conservative speed estimate. The report that Samsung is nearing readiness with the new chip first appeared in the Maeil Business Newspaper of South Korea, was picked up by the Korea Herald and Nikkei Business Publications, and shot from there around the world in hours when various Internet publications grabbed the story. Kim told Newsbytes said Samsung did not really intend a product announcement. The company just gave what it saw as a technology update on a known deep-sub-micron shrink of the 21264 Alpha from .35 to .25 micron circuits. He said many engineering details must be completed before any performance figures can be finalized, so they used 700MHz in order not to "disappoint" anyone. Newsbytes notes smaller circuits take less power to drive, and produce less heat, so they can accommodate faster clock rates -- the central determining factor in a chip's speed. Samsung has already developed chips in .25-micron and smaller design territory, so the shrink is in uncharted territory. Kim said familiarity with deep-sub-micron designs has reduced the firm's development costs. "The chip will be affordable," Kim declared, "and have high performance that no one has come close to." Peter Mardahl of the University of California, Berkeley, summed up one view in an Internet newsgroup posting: "It's vapor right now, but if you want to sell other vapor against it in 1997 you better have damn fast vapor." The 21264 Alpha chip, on which Samsung's 21264A chip will be based, was announced at last year's Microprocessor Forum. Kim described the 700MHz "A" revision, taking the design to .25 microns, as a "natural evolution." "As you know, Samsung successfully developed the .18 micron gigabit DRAM about two years ago. What we are doing is combining the memory technology and lithography with the logic technology," he said. "We are already in the ramping part of the learning curve of the Alpha. We are coming fast to .25 and you can be sure to expect even finer geography in the near future." There was speculation on the Internet that chip cooling technology like that being developed by Kryotech Inc. -- a privately held South Carolina spin-off from NCR Corp. -- might bring the 700MHz chip up to one gigahertz (1000 MHz) speeds. Kim said Samsung has worked continuously on the Alpha design since it licensed the technology from Digital Equipment Corp. [NYSE:DEC] in mid-1996 and expects to hit the one gigahertz-mark before much longer. Current Alpha technology from DEC runs at 600MHz and analysts have said DEC will probably increase the speed further in coming months. Newsbytes notes the Intel Corp. purchase of DEC's Alpha fabrication plant last week, and cross-licensing of Alpha and X86 technologies, may have an affect on future Alpha design routes. Will Samsung be first to market with a super-fast .25-micron Alpha CPU now that Intel is in the picture? "I heard they've told reporters they're going to put new equipment into the fab, but it'll still take six months to get there," replied Kim. "And even so, the technology is not proven for the Intel chip. We've been doing Alpha chips for the last 12 months. And we're in production with .35 microns right now." He added: "I don't think they really plan to commercialize Alpha chips under Intel's brand name anyhow. Of course if they do, I don't mind." Asked how Samsung managed to pull out in front in what sometimes resembles a chip-based version of the world land speed record competition, Kim replied that his firm has its sights on even smaller, faster, better records. "Before this century is out, Samsung probably will be the only semiconductor supplier with commercial one gigabit DRAM and one gigahertz microprocessor in the world." In a note to Newsbytes, Samsung sources said: "When the new processor is in production next summer on the .25 micron process, Samsung expects a healthy improvement in frequency over and above the 700MHz parts now being produced. At 600MHz, KP21264 is expected to reach 40 SPECint95 and 60 SPECfp95 rating. At 700MHz the performance ratings will increase proportionally." (19971103/Reported by Newsbytes News Network: newsbytes.com /SAMSUNGALPHA/PHOTO)