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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BillyG who wrote (34246)	7/10/1998 1:18:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

Tiny Chromatic Research Stops Work On Highly-Touted Graphics Chip 07/10/98 Dow Jones Online News (Copyright (c) 1998, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Chromatic Research, the much-hyped graphic-chip designer, said it is cutting about half of its work force and discontinuing work on its programmable Mpact line media processors to focus on a new type of media processor with lower development costs, according to a report. The privately held company has about 150 employees, sources said. The announcement, reported by Internet-based news service CNet Inc., is somewhat surprising, considering Chromatic's pioneering media-processor chips were endorsed by major high-tech firms including Micron Electronics Inc. and Gateway 2000 Inc. Its Mpact chips were designed to run a host of different applications including digital videodisk, or DVD , players. The Mpact chip stood out in that it is programmable, meaning that functions could be added to it. Experts say Mpact was one of the most complex graphics chips on the market. But company officials have said their chips are cheaper and more versatile than traditional video chips from companies like C-Cube Microsystems Inc. The company gave no indication about the impact the layoffs and production changes would have on its contracts with PC makers. Industry gurus say the company, like many others, was struggling to survive in the competitive graphics chip market. The cost of developing such chips is extremely high, and Chromatic appears to be one of the first casualties in an industry-wide consolidation that analysts and even graphics chip executives predicted earlier this year. Chromatic's co-founders are Michael Farmwald, who founded Rambus Inc., and Stephen Purcell, C-Cube Corp.'s former chief architect. C-Cube's stock was once a high-flier; Rambus, which recently went public, still is. OUCH!