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Technology Stocks : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: REH who wrote (2902)	2/3/1998 10:11:00 AM
From: Guy Peter Cordaro	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Check This Out!!!!!Shift in Intel's road map hints at Rambus setback By Anthony Cataldo and David Lammers TOKYO -- The belief that the wide adoption of Direct Rambus memory technology will face significant delays spread across a wide cross-section of the DRAM industry last week as reports circulated that Intel Corp. has amended its DRAM road map to allow a future chip set the option of using either 133-MHz SDRAM or Direct Rambus DRAM for PC main memory. The company has been quietly circulating a new SDRAM specification, known as P133L, to DRAM manufacturers for several weeks. Intel underestimated the time it may take to whittle down the die-size penalty, and hence the cost difference, between the Direct Rambus and SDRAMs, said a senior Japanese executive. "I would not say Intel made a mistake in choosing Rambus," he said. "What they failed to realize is how long it will take to implement that technology and get the costs down. "Rambus is constantly asking us to keep the die-size penalty down to 5 percent," he added. "But that is absolutely, completely impossible, at least for the time being." The executive estimated the current die-size penalty at 20 percent. Intel had laid out a plan last year to shift PC main memory to 100-MHz SDRAMs in 1998, followed by Direct Rambus DRAMs in 1999. Intel apparently has reconsidered that time table and has drawn up new specifications for a 2.5-V, 133-MHz DRAM that could be used in place of Direct Rambus with a future chip set, according to several sources. It was unclear whether Intel intends to support both 133-MHz SDRAMs and Direct Rambus with the same memory controller of the chip set. Neither Intel or Rambus would comment directly on the report. But an Intel spokesperson said that any such move would constitute a transition and would not imply a rejection of Rambus. Intel's decision to shoehorn a new SDRAM specification may be linked to the cost of manufacturing Direct RDRAMs. Some DRAM vendors argue that the size of the 64-Mbit die is significantly larger than PC-100 SDRAMs. Direct RDRAMs use a 144-bit internal bus, for example, "and that takes up a lot of space," said Bob Eminian, director of strategic marketing for the memory division at Samsung Semiconductor Inc. (San Jose, Calif.). "There are some inherent yield issues with Direct Rambus." Whatever Intel's reason for developing a new SDRAM specification, manufacturers will have to change their production plans to include the new 133-MHz memory. DRAM manufacturers to date have not generally had a 133-MHz SDRAM on their road maps, though many companies have planned to build 125-MHz and faster synchronous graphics RAMs, a close cousin of SDRAMs. Intel's specifications for an earlier, 100-MHz SDRAM were so rigorous that only a few vendors were qualified by Intel, sources said. Most observers believe, however, that there should be a critical mass by the end of the second quarter, when Intel is set to roll out its 440BX chip set.