Conference ricks::dechips

The following is extracted from "ZEN News", an occasional newsletter
put out by Zahir Parpia at the University of Toronto.  I have his
permission to post portions of his newsletter.

The "opinions" included here are those of Zahir's.



ZEN News - Vol. 3, No. 4 FEBRUARY 25, 1997
...

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INTEL INVESTS IN SAMSUNG MEMORY PLANT
Intel announced that it is making an equity investment in Samsung
Electronics' memory fabrication plant currently under construction in
Austin, Texas.  The plant will likely be devoted entirely to producing
64 Mbit chips on 8 inch wafers (no word on whether it will be
synchronous, EDO or other) and will likely begin production in
mid-1997.  No word on the amount of Intel's investment.

As to why it did this, Intel says it is `to assure a stable supply of
advanced memory products.'  How about Samsung?  Word is that it is
strapped for money - collapsing DRAM prices are making it difficult to
raise enough capital to develop future products.

[I am still somewhat mystified at Intel's motive - why the need to
assure supply when there is a glut of memory products out there?  The
only explanations I could come with are: Intel has a crystal ball
predicting memory shortages in the next 6-12 months or Intel is using
this as a leverage for determining the direction of future products.]

(Electronic Buyers News, Feb. 16, 1997 + Intel Press Release)

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...

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[My opinions are those enclosed by square brackets]

re .15
    >From VNS today:
    >Digital - "highly likely" that AST Research will begin using Alpha chips
    >	{The Wall Street Journal, 20-Jun-96, p. C24}
    >Keith McDonald, an executive at Samsung's semiconductor business, said
    >it is "highly likely" that AST Research Inc., which is 41% owned by
    >Samsung, will begin using Alpha chips in its high-end computer systems.
    
    Didn't happen, but Samsung bought the rest of AST, so perhaps the odds
    are better now.
    K