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To: MulhollandDrive who wrote (28980)	11/20/1997 1:40:00 PM
From: Fred Weiss	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58727

BP - This story should add to your fun. It just came over the news wire: Rambus-Intel Chip-Technology Effort Said To Be Ahead of Schedule NEW YORK (Dow Jones)- Shares of Rambus Inc., the well-regarded developer of semiconductor technology that enjoyed a spectacular initial public offering in May, advanced Thursday after an Hambrecht & Quist Inc. analyst said development efforts with Intel Corp. are ahead of schedule. That prompted Hambrecht & Quist analyst Robert Chaplinsky to double his six-month share-price target for Rambus to $100 from $50. Shares of Mountain View, Calif.-based Rambus (RMBS) were up $5, or 14%, at $49 in heavy trading Thursday afternoon on the Nasdaq Stock Market. "It's going better than expected and well ahead of plan," Chaplinsky said of the efforts between Intel and Rambus. The two companies, which struck an agreement late last year, have been working to develop a chip that will boost memory-retrieval speeds in personal computers. The effort is based on Rambus' Direct Rambus memory-chip technology. Intel is expected to incorporate the technology into future versions of its chip sets, which would make Rambus-based memory chips the main memory vehicle for PCs. The companies have achieved "fully working silicon" ahead of schedule, Chaplinsky said. The silicon is "rumored to be operating at greater than 1 gigahertz, which represents a 25% improvement" over the original specifications, he added. This "increases the probability" that the technology will become the industry standard for PC memory in 1999 and beyond, he said. Chaplinsky noted that 10 of the world's top 10 memory-chip manufacturers already license Rambus technology. With the latest development, he said, "the competitive landscape continues to evolve in Rambus' favor." Hambrecht & Quist maintained its earnings projections at 24 cents a share in fiscal 1998 ending in September and 53 cents a share in fiscal 1999. The brokerage said it may boost its 1999 estimate depending on the timing and availability of Intel's next-generation chipsets. Rambus, until earlier this year a little-known firm, has developed a technology that allows data to be transferred between chips at very high speeds and was used in the popular Nintendo 64 game machine. Unlike other chip companies, Rambus doesn't manufacture or market chips. It instead licenses its technology to major chipmakers, which pay Rambus royalties. Samsung Electronics Corp., NEC Corp. and a consortium made up of Fujitsu Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Toshiba Corp. have been pushing different technologies to speed communications between chips. But reports surfaced a few months ago suggesting that the rival camp can't agree on a common competing format. The belief among some investors has been that Rambus will face less competition if the chip makers can't agree on a common standard. Rambus has said thet, even if they develop a common format, it believes it has a two-year head start on the competition. Rambus officials have said that much of the company's stock-price surges this year germinated in chat rooms on the Internet. One official was quoted in June as saying that the company's stock price was in "nosebleed territory." Copyright (c) 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Symbol(s): INTC RMBS