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Technology Stocks : LSI Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Marc Bourgault who wrote (9159)	1/26/1998 11:45:00 AM
From: shane forbes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25814

Thanks Marc. Hard to say re: impact on PlayStation. Sony has one of the bigger semiconductor operations around. When the 32 bit version of the PlayStation was announced many many moons ago, I recall reading that the Sony big-wigs said Sony would develop the next generation chip. I have no idea what has become of this. There are benefits to using LSI as the OEM that likely place LSI in a good position to build the 2nd gen. chip. Not least of which is letting LSI do all the capital spending! This logic is the same as WDC letting guys like HTCH, INVX, KMAG do all the capital spending and then WDC reaps the rewards of their R&D and cap. spending by buying cheap components from these guys. But who can tell. The current gen. chip should last quite a while so I'm not too concerned. Product introductions can really cannabalize existing sales so Sony has to balance the pros and cons carefully. Right now the 32 bit version is selling well. Besides some were hinting that Toshiba would play a part in the chip development. So maybe the Fujitsu announcement is ancillary to all of this. Who knows?

To: Marc Bourgault who wrote (9159)	1/26/1998 5:23:00 PM
From: Tony Viola	Respond to of 25814

Marc, >>"Is this news regarding Sony teaming up withj a chip maker of any interest regarding the Sony Playstation?" First, Fujitsu is far more than a chipmaker. They are a highly vertically integrated company that makes everything from chips to mainframes to peripherals...sales about $37 billion a year. Second, they are world class in semiconductors, among other things. The article did say that, even for the biggest ones, it was getting prohibitive for individual companies to develop things as complex as microprocessors alone (witness the Intel - HP joint Merced development). So, this is not necessarily any threat to LSI's Sony Playstation business. Also, the article mentioned microprocessor, not ASIC. However, one never knows. Last thing, the Japanese companies have been known for years to get together in joint developments, even between rivals. They are quite nationalistic, and whatever is best for Japanese business/economy is highly condoned by the government. Tony