To: BullonIDT who wrote (7402 ) 3/17/1998 11:44:00 AM From: Rob S. Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 11555
The Golden Egg in this agreement for the next year or two, besides the obvious increase in capacity, is the 2.5v technology. IBM's low power technology will enable IDTI to more agressively pursue the laptop and internet appliance markets with market leading products. When you combine the tight, efficient and small WinChip uP architecture and IDTI's leading memory technologies and soon to be released graphics chip with state-of-the-art low power technology, the result can be expected to be market-leading chips for laptops, PDA's, auto computers and internet appliances. This answers the questions OEMs ask about capacity, alternate sourcing and performance. It also addresses the Intel patent issue and should make that a minor point going forward - and probably tips the scales for Intel entering a lawsuit toward being more to lose than gain. The analysts will have many questions about how this will impact IDT's outlook. The immediate effect is minimal because it will take several months to get products into production at IBM plants (as can be expected). The longer-term (9-12 months out) implications should be viewed as extremely favorable. At least until the parts start rolling off the IBM lines, IDTI will likely remain capacity constrained, probably more than before, as OEMs and other customers will feel increasingly good about using the WinChip. By the 4th quarter IDTI should be entering the market with very low power C6 and C6+ parts, maybe 1/3 the current power consumption if the 2.5v technology can be used extensively. (Part of what limits the use of 2.5V is the I/O drive requirements to chips connected to the uP). I think it is likely that we will see OEM agreements announced toward the 3rd and 4th quarter. I'm (very) long again.