Intel Corp is trying to smooth the path of the Rambus DRAM memory chips with a new vendor forum designed to promote the technology. The forum consists of the six major DRAM manufacturers – Hyundai, Infineon Technologies AG, Micron, NEC Corp, Samsung Corp and Toshiba Corp.
Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s vice president and general manager of desktop products, says that Rambus chips and attendant 820 ‘Camino’ chipsets will be introduced next month. The production lines will then be cranked up and Intel expects volume production next year. Gelsinger was less than forthcoming about how much of a premium will be charged on Rambus chips over competing synchronous DRAM and PC133 chips. However, Samsung said that it expected that there would be a 25% premium on Rambus chips over SDRAMs next year.
Interestingly, all of the vendors behind the Rambus forum also produce PC133 SDRAM chips, and some of them work with Intel’s arch-rival VIA Technologies Inc. However, Gelsinger denied that Intel had a problem with this. We don’t view that as a conflict with the goals of the next generation Rambus technology. Intel will announce tomorrow the results of its evaluation of PC133 technology tomorrow. Many in the industry expect that Intel will try and push its own fine-tuned specification and it will be intriguing to see which companies back Intel if it chooses to take the PC133 route.
