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 : Texas Instruments - Good buy now or should we wait? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: robert w fain who wrote (3666)	6/1/1998 10:31:00 AM
From: jad	Respond to of 6180

Texas Instruments' interface chip to speed data transfer rates By Andy Santoni InfoWorld Electric Posted at 5:30 PM PT, May 31, 1998 Texas Instruments this week plans to unveil a technology designed to let the company produce chips that run at speeds as fast as 2.5Gbps without using esoteric and expensive manufacturing materials and circuit designs. Later this year, TI intends to use the technology in an IEEE 1394 FireWire interface chip that will offer data transfer rates as fast as 800Mbps, according to Larry Blackledge, TI's worldwide business manager for bus solutions. Double-speed Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel interfaces are "a little further off," Blackledge said. The FireWire chip can be bumped to speeds of 1.6Gbps, then 2.5Gbps, Blackledge said. In a hard drive interface application, this would allow backing up a 1GB drive in about 4 seconds, he noted. Eventually, it could reach 3.2Gbps speeds, Blackledge said. These speeds have been the province of chips built on gallium arsenide instead of silicon, or using bipolar instead of CMOS circuitry, said Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, a consultancy in Tempe, Ariz. Such devices are difficult to manufacture and difficult to incorporate into systems. In contrast, the TI technology makes use of relatively standard CMOS design and manufacturing processes, which should make the chips less expensive, Strauss said. TI will use the 0.25-micron process it already has up and running, and "0.18 is coming next year," Strauss said. That will make the chips even faster and less expensive, he said. TI has already built prototype transceivers using the technology, said TI's Blackledge. An 800Mbps FireWire physical layer, or PHY, device should be in production by the end of the year, he added. "In the future, we will see this technology doubling the speeds of serial data transmission," said Ed Suder, TI's design manager for physical interface products. Building 2Gbps Ethernet and Fibre Channel interfaces will require changes to these standards, he noted. Texas Instruments Inc., in Dallas, is at ti.com. Andy Santoni is a senior writer for InfoWorld. Go to the Week's Top News Stories Please direct your comments to InfoWorld Boston Bureau Chief, Ted Smalley Bowen Copyright c 1998 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.

To: robert w fain who wrote (3666)	6/1/1998 11:39:00 AM
From: Charlie Smith	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6180

Bob: In DRAM, we're seeing the reversal of the wave of FAB construction that began in late 1994, and it probably won't get better for another year. I've been puzzled by the inability of the DRAM market to find a bottom. The market hasn't displayed the elasticity I expected. Probably because supply was so far beyond equilibrium; we're fixing that now. Demand has been hit as well by the Asian mess. It may take even longer for DRAM to bottom out, depending on when Japan, Korea and Indonesia improve. China is the wild card. If China devalues, things will get worse. On the bright side, digital phones are selling like crazy both here and in Europe, and the ramp for high speed data to the masses is just beginning. The Baby Bells will not deploy DSL in serious numbers until next year, but this could coincide with better DRAM markets and really allow their earning power to show through. Like you, I don't see a lot of reasons for the stock to go lower. On the other hand, I don't see much in the next six months to get it moving up either. A sale of some or all of the DRAM assets would end the quarterly water torture and probably help the stock short run, but my guess is they will stick it out because they don't need the money and can afford to wait. DRAM will be hugely profitable again someday, and when it turns it turns quickly. Two years into the next up cycle will be the time to sell it, not now. Meanwhile, second quarter will show another hit. I'm guessing .50 per share in Q2 and $3.00 for next year. Under $50, I'm a buyer. Hope this helps. Charlie