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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ibexx who wrote (46739)	1/30/1998 3:24:00 AM
From: Paul Engel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Ibexx - Re: "NEC to use Intel Microprocessors for Next Generation Mainframes" I guess the Merced samples that Intel sent them worked out pretty well! Thanks for the article. Paul

To: Ibexx who wrote (46739)	1/30/1998 3:34:00 AM
From: Paul Engel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Ibexx and Intel Investors - Intel will be Producing 0.25 micron FLASH Memory Products - Copy Exactly Intel's 0.25 micron process technology is going to be parlayed into smaller, faster FLASH chips. Raed all about it: Paul {========} techweb.cmp.com Intel leverages MPU technology to help bolster its flash efforts By Andrew MacLellan Electronic Buyers' News SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Intel Corp. here is borrowing from its microprocessor manufacturing strengths to shore up its lead in the flash-memory market and will move its flash program to a 0.25-micron process technology next quarter. The move should restore the bloom to Intel's shrinking share of the flash-memory market, according to Hans Geyer, the newly appointed vice president and general manager of Intel's Memory Components Division. Using an industry technique known as "drafting," the Santa Clara company will shrink the chip size of its proprietary advanced boot block flash and StrataFlash designs with technology advancements coming from the production ramp up of the Pentium II processor. "We will 'draft' on the experience of our high-volume learning curve and the experience we have gained with the Pentium II," Geyer said. "This gives us access to a much wider technology base." According to the plan, Intel has converted its 0.25-micron D2 technology development line in Santa Clara from logic to memory manufacturing, while maintaining close to 90% of the same equipment and process steps. In the second quarter, the facility will begin making 16-Mbit boot block chips which are 29% faster and half the size of those produced at 0.4-micron, Geyer said. By replicating its "Copy Exactly" microprocessor manufacturing strategy across its flash product line, Intel will then ramp production at Fab 9 in Albuquerque, N.M., which is undergoing a $1 billion conversion to 8-inch wafers and 0.25-micron line widths. With the tighter geometries, Intel said it will have 200 million Mbytes of flash-memory capacity in 1998 which it will increase by about 50% for each of the next two years. Though it still leads the flash market, Intel has lost share for the past several years to competitors such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., Atmel Corp. of San Jose and Japanese competitors such as Fujitsu Ltd. and Sharp Corp. Intel closed 1997 with about a 33% market share, down from 39.7% in 1995, according to Alan Niebel, an analyst for Semico Research Corp., based in Phoenix. By comparison, Intel's closest competitor, AMD, captured about 24% of last year's flash market. Niebel characterized Intel's strategy as an attempt to pervade the market with middle of the road flash technology, while driving down manufacturing costs to increase margins. Like DRAM -- their more visible cousins in the memory world -- flash prices have been buffeted over the last year or so, with overcapacity driving prices down by more than 50%. "They're trying to amplify their strengths and compensate for some of their weaknesses, but I don't see a whole lot of new stuff here," Niebel said. "I guess what they're saying is that they're able to weather the trough in flash-memory prices, and that they'll be here for the long term." In addition to increasing capacity, Intel said it will introduce a new Architectural Memory concept to provide more engineering software support to customers. Intel said it will add 100 new flash engineers able to help customers partition code and data storage within their flash parts, depending on the application. In addition to deepening Intel's OEM relationships, the new practice could open markets with higher margins than commodity-based applications such as standard cellular phones and pagers. "We are shifting more and more of our business to a technology where, because I have lower costs and smaller die sizes, I can maintain my margins," Geyer said. "We will also shift into products that are a little less affected by price declines and typically have a bit of a better margin structure than older products." Intel has a joint manufacturing relationship with Sharp in Japan which includes production of flash-memory chips on a 0.4-micron process geometry. Geyer said that relationship will continue, although Sharp will not participate in Intel's Copy Exactly program at 0.25-micron.

To: Ibexx who wrote (46739)	1/30/1998 9:12:00 AM
From: Rarebird	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Interesting Day to Unfold: It's Friday, and the market and Intel have been up strong this week. Do we get the usual profit taking in the afternoon? Or do we get further confirmation from the S@P, Nasdaq, and High Tech, that the most recent move is the beginning of an breakout? I lean to the latter scenario and think Intel will have no problem reaching the $85-$87 level short term before it pauses for a few weeks on its way to the old highs at 102. A Nasdaq close above 1650 is extremely bullish and means that it ( and Intel ) will challenge its old highs sooner than later.