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Technology Stocks : VLSI Technology - Waiting for good news from NASDAQ !!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Linda Kaplan who wrote (2938)	2/15/1998 12:14:00 PM
From: Clarksterh	Respond to of 6565

Do all those companies do the same stuff that VLSI does? Are tkey all competitors? Nope. Most are only tangentially competitors. ALTR, for instance, make FPGA's, which in some instances can be used instead of ASIC's (which are VLSI's bread and butter), but generally very little competition. Or MU, which is now the world's biggest producer of memory, and is not in competition with VLSI in any way. I think that list is just a list of Value Lines semiconductor stocks, which covers the whole spectrum of semiconductors. The only two on there which I view as real competition are CUBE (makes stuff for STB's) and LSI. Clark

To: Linda Kaplan who wrote (2938)	2/15/1998 1:23:00 PM
From: shane forbes	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6565

RE: Do all those companies do the same stuff that VLSI does? Are tkey all competitors? --- Linda: I think you are pulling my leg. But any way here goes: --- LSI directly competes - (as if no one knew!) CUBE (C-CUBE) - likes to think of themselves as enablers of the digital revolution and are big in DVD for instance. Plus set top boxes as well. NSM (National Semiconductor) does a lot of analog business but with Brian Halla is going forward with a company overhaul that will make them at least partly into a System-on-a-chip company. This would compete with VLSI directly. INTC (Intel) recently reorganized and now they are going after the consumer markets that VLSI targets. May be doing communications as well but I don't remember. But their primary bread-and-butter is x86 chips and soon Merced. But INTC is Intel and they have proven they can compete in markets that they choose to enter. For instance, INTC is going after digital cameras and were mentioned in the recent TCI announcement about STBs (not likely to win at least 1st round). MOT (Motorola) wants to do at least partly the coreware (LSI terminology) thing. They have a vast database and know the benefits of integrating things on a chip. CRUS (Cirrus Logic) involved in Information Appliances (aka the big boom) likely not big competitor. VTSS (Vitesse) heavily involved in communications but I have no idea whether their chips compete with VLSI's. They are the GaAs boys and basically their chips are high performance but expensive. Also might be involved with DBS. Basically not sure if they do things that VLSI would like to do. Perhaps (likely) markets do not overlap. XLNX (Xilinx) and ALTR (Altera) will attack the low end of the gate array market with a vengeance. --- Not that familiar with all the companies on that list [they are the companies covered by Value Line]. So not sure if I'm missing some smaller part of the bigger companies there. Big boys likely not involved are: ADI (Analog Devices) (DSP's and Linear primarily) AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) (flash + K6 chips) MU (Micron) (memory) TXN (Texas Instruments) (DSPs long range vision) --- About the others: IDTI (Integrated Device Tech.) does SRAM (a type of memory) and going after low-end MPU market with Centaur. CY (Cypress) - I don't know but not likely? LLTC (Linear Tech.) and MXIM (Maxxim) - linear boys - no competition UTR (Unitrode) - linear I think; power market; hard drives related. --- Main point: Big boys want to get into the std. cells market because that market is expected to explode over the next few years. I think 30% CAGR expected over the next few years. ---