Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Semi-Equips - Buy when BLOOD is running in the streets! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (5522)	5/24/1998 10:34:00 PM
From: Thomas Babb	Respond to of 10921

Thank you BK

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (5522)	5/25/1998 12:20:00 AM
From: shane forbes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10921

Brian: RE: Please correct me if I'm wrong, but don't hubs and routers require ICs? I certainly hope so! I think the point though that I was trying to make is that in the past people (consumers, businesses) would want a new computer for one and only one reason: to run software faster. The easiest way to do that is to get a faster CPU or put more DRAM. Nowadays, with the intra- and inter- nets and the lack of a major processing need for current software people don't upgrade the CPU or buy a new computer. They buy a faster modem, they upgrade to T1, make the networks more intelligent, use fibre channel etc etc. Also hubs and routers use ASICs and usually (WAG here) as far as I know you don't need a $300-$500 Pentium processor to get one of these going. I think a few (likely many) $10 MIPS processors will do the trick. Why buy a complicated multi-use chip like the Pentium and its siblings to do a single specific job when a MIPS processor will do the specific job faster likely. Set top boxes use ARM and MIPS processors - again no need to use the expensive INTC chips here. INTC is trying to enter the consumer chip business with the ARM chips not the Celeron or Pentium - these x86 babies are too expensive and unnecessary. The point is that if INTC was making say 70-100 million chips that generated say 20 billion in revenue or so (don't know how much INTC's flash business, NICs etc generated) last year and all of a sudden people say hey we can use the current generation chips - they are good enough - and new Information Appliances and consumer gadgets can all do with even cheaper processors, then how is the CPU the driving force? Consider this: All of a sudden these days the hard-drive is the most expensive component of a sub 1000 PC - funny how times have changed. It was DRAM at one point, then the price plunged; it used to be the CPU at one point and then the price plunged; hard drives have come down dramatically - the world is a changing. If you can't make oodles of money selling Pentiums then somewhere down the line you have to do something different because those retained earnings are going to be coming down. Finally: I'll never count INTC out. There are 2 big things next year that should do wonders for INTC's stock price - Merced and Windows NT. The latter especially should bring in a whole new upgrade cycle and the INTC stockholders will be very happy. But longer term we need to get the pipes connecting people fatter and thicker and smarter. Then we can worry about how on the client do you process the resulting information deluge! But this comes later. First we need billions to upgrade the pipes... Shane.