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To: DJBEINO who wrote (4714)	2/24/1999 4:59:00 PM
From: DJBEINO	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9582

Intel to delay Direct RDRAM chip set until third quarter By Andrew MacLellan Electronic Buyers' News PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Confirming earlier published reports, Intel Corp. said today it will delay until the second half of 1999 the introduction of a chip set designed to support emerging Direct Rambus DRAM. The Camino chip set, known formally as the Intel 820, was scheduled to roll out in June but instead will be pushed back until late in the third quarter, executives confirmed here at this week's Intel Developers' Forum (IDF). Intel said the delay of the Rambus memory-interface platform sprang from a complex combination of factors relating to the availability of the chip set, clock ICs, PC boards, and memory devices. However, the company reiterated its pledge to help customers roll out Rambus-enabled PCs this year. "We're still going to deliver in '99," said an Intel spokesman. "[But] there are several parts that all need to come together in parallel for the effort to get there, and a couple of the parts still need work." Daniel T. Niles, an analyst at BancBoston Robertson Stephens, upgraded Rambus stock from a long-term attractive rating to a buy on the expectation that Intel would provide a more detailed schedule for the Camino release at the IDF. "We knew that the Intel roadmap was going to slip," said Niles, noting that he cut his stock price estimate on Rambus Inc. several months ago in anticipation of Intel's missing its target date. "We always knew that people would have to go to Rambus, or the Intel microprocessor would be choked. The question was how long it would take to get there. Whatever Intel sticks in the ground today will be a new, realistic deadline." Rambus chips are the cornerstone of a high-speed PC main memory subsystem that Intel is banking will narrow the widening gap between processor and memory performance. The Direct RDRAM interface is capable of clock speeds reaching 800 megahertz and has a bandwidth of 1.6 gigabytes per second. In fact, Intel has linked its new Pentium III processor family to Rambus technology by ensuring that the processor's accompanying chipset--the Intel 820--will work with Direct RDRAM memory. Without the Intel 820, new Pentium III devices still will operate with the existing 440BX chip set and standard PC100 memory, according to Peter D. MacWilliams, an Intel fellow and director of platform architecture at Intel's Desktop Products Group in Hillsboro, Ore. While Intel has been actively promoting Rambus, memory-chip and module makers have reported trouble getting initial Rambus costs down because of expensive new packaging and test technology. A recent report from Hyundai Electronics America, a San Jose-based DRAM manufacturer, indicated that 128-megabit Direct RDRAM could, at the end of 1999, still cost 40% more than SDRAM chips currently in use. With the Intel 820 delay, DRAM suppliers have been granted several months to improve their yields--a situation that may not please those vendors hoping to cash in by beating their competitors to market. And analysts warned that, given too much time, chip makers may be ready with volume production of Rambus parts before a market for them has appeared. In such a case, Intel could benefit in some ways from its own delay by ensuring that an early oversupply of Rambus chips lowers costs for its customers. But it could prove to be a double-edged sword, according to Jim Handy, an analyst at Dataquest Inc., San Jose. "It's a mixed bag for Intel," Handy said. "For every quarter they delay, they lose some of their competitive speed advantage. How much of a speed advantage are they willing to give away to gain a larger dollar percentage of the PC? It's like giving away market share for profitability." Earlier reports had indicated that Intel would introduce an interim chip set that supported 600-MHz Direct RDRAM until the Intel 820 could be rolled out. Intel executives at IDF said that while the Camino device will support both clock rates, they will be introduced simultaneously in the third quarter. semibiznews.com