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EBN's Daily News Digest
Intel chip slip curbs Rambus clock speed
By Mark Hachman
Electronic Buyers' News
(02/12/99, 04:40:30 PM EDT)
Intel Corp. has delayed the launch of a key component in the industry's
planned transition to Direct Rambus DRAM, which in the short run may
force OEMs to deal with a slower version of the Rambus interface.
Intel's customers and chip vendors alike report the company has delayed
until September a version of the Intel 820, or Camino, chipset featuring
the highly touted 800-MHz Direct RDRAM interface. Instead, a Camino
chipset that supports slower, 600-MHz Rambus memory will be launched in
June.
Intel is also said to be working on another chipset, a version known as
the Intel 815, that supports a legacy 100-MHz SDRAM interface.
Intel has spent more than two years orchestrating the PC industry's move
to Direct Rambus, but issues surrounding the chips' timing
specifications and back-end test and packaging have raised concern as to
the availability of 800-MHz parts, observers say. Until these issues are
fully resolved, 600-MHz Direct RDRAM may be elevated from understudy to
a starring role.
Intel refused to comment on its chipset schedule or the purported delay.
A spokesman for the Santa Clara, Calif., company maintained that the
600-MHz Rambus speed grade has always been included in the Direct RDRAM
launch as a ³down bin,² a term that refers to parts that are unable to
meet the more rigorous 800-MHz timing requirements. ³600 MHz is nothing
new,² the spokesman said. ³It's been in the plans all along.²
According to people close to the Rambus program, concern over the
near-term availability of the new memory prompted Intel to contact
procurement agents at several leading OEMs in recent weeks to warn that
chipset support for 800-MHz Direct RDRAM would be pushed out until late
in the third quarter. Instead, Intel in June will actively promote a
different chipset-which one source dubbed ³Camino Lite²-that supports
600-MHz Direct RDRAM and a slower, 100-MHz frontside bus.
The recent events are drawing various interpretations within the
industry. While most observers agree that both 600- and 800-MHz Direct
RDRAM were part of the original Rambus plan, there is dispute as to how
large a role the slower device was expected to play.
Analyst Steven A. Przybylski of the Verdande Group, San Jose, said
600-MHz Rambus memory was generally viewed as a low-volume device aimed
at niche applications, while the 800-MHz version was destined for the
mainstream market.
³The Rambus roadmap has always had a 600-MHz part and an 800-MHz part,
but there is definitely a shift that's happened with respect to their
relative importance,² Przybylski said.
³It's clearly a fallback position,² said analyst Dean McCarron, of
Mercury Research, Scottsdale, Ariz.
At DRAM module vendor Smart Modular Technologies Inc., Fremont, Calif.,
vice president of strategic memory marketing Bill Johnston said, to his
knowledge, 600-MHz Direct RDRAM was designed solely as a prototype part.
Executives at Samsung Semiconductor Inc., San Jose, challenged such
characterizations, saying that volume production of 600-MHz Direct RDRAM
was always scheduled to precede the 800-MHz version in the market. Avo
Kanadjian, vice president of memory marketing at Samsung, said industry
analysts have misinterpreted the production time line ³to an extreme.²
³Our customers' preference is to use 800-MHz [Direct RDRAM], but there
will always be demand for a lower-performance part for use at the low
end,² Kanadjian said.
Subodh Toprani, vice president and general manager of the logic division
of Rambus Inc., Mountain View, Calif., said his company will help
suppliers make both versions of the memory available and let customers
choose between them.
But demand for the lower-speed Rambus parts isn't guaranteed, some
observers said. ³I haven't had a single OEM call me and ask what the
production schedule is for 600-MHz Direct RDRAM,² said analyst Sherry
Garber, at Semico Research Corp., Phoenix.
Even some DRAM suppliers questioned the impact a 600-MHz part would have
in the market.
³I didn't know that the official plan in the industry was to have two
different [Direct RDRAM] speeds,² said Jim Sogas, director of the DRAM
business unit at Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc., San Jose. ³To the
best of my knowledge, we don't have any official product plans [for
600-MHz parts], and to my knowledge no customers have asked me for the
slow version.²
Intel, the DRAM industry, and especially Rambus all have a huge stake in
ensuring a smooth transition to the high-speed memory interface. Intel's
$100 million investment last month in Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and
its $500 million stake in Micron Technology Inc., together with its
recent discussions with other DRAM manufacturers and its warrants to
purchase shares of Rambus' stock, are designed to get the Direct RDRAM
market moving.
But even Intel's extensive financing may not be enough to keep the
Rambus train running at top speed. One analyst said some DRAM vendors,
unable to live up to Rambus' timing specifications, have informally
proposed a 500-MHz version of Direct RDRAM. Smart Modular's Johnston
said even 400-MHz speeds have been discussed.
Regardless of the final specifications, the shift to Direct RDRAM will
entail fixed manufacturing costs, giving vendors a big incentive to
ratchet up their clock rates. Although pricing will depend largely on
yields, vendors estimate that 600-MHz Direct RDRAM could cost only 10%
less than the faster 800-MHz part.
³Initially, the [600-MHz] part will be very expensive, because we're
optimizing our yields to [800 MHz],² said Mark Ellsberry, vice president
of memory marketing for the semiconductor division of Hyundai
Electronics America, San Jose.
In a sign that the initial costs of moving the PC industry to the Rambus
infrastructure may be prohibitive for some chip suppliers, Intel has
built further safeguards into its chipset roadmap, according to several
industry sources.
In addition to rolling out two Rambus-enabled versions of the Intel 820
chipset, Intel is said to be developing another chipset for non-Rambus
memory. That version, known as the Intel 815, will initially include a
100-MHz SDRAM interface, according to sources, who described the device
as a successor to the Intel 810, or Whitney, chipset, but with enhanced
video and graphics features.
One source said the chipset is scheduled to be released in September,
although Intel would not comment on unannounced products. It was not
known if the Intel 815 would sell into the same so-called Basic PC
segment as the Intel 810.
Additional reporting by Andrew MacLellan.
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