05.23.2001
RDRAM and DDR still at loggerheads

• Taiwan's motherboard (MB) makers are reported to have discontinued development efforts on DDR MB as demand continues to trend down. Demand appears to have peaked in March this year, when VIA Technology (2388 'Wei Sheng') and Nan Ya Technology (2408 'Nan Ya Ke Ji') were bundling DDR chipsets and memory modules at promotional prices.

• The ASP of DDR MB recently fell to US$80, down 33% since the beginning of 2001. However, the sharp price decline does not seem to have stimulated demand.

• It is also reported that several of Taiwan's MB makers have already completed the development of Pentium 4 Socket 478 MB supporting DDR. However, Intel's official launch of Brookdale (Intel 845 Chipset) supporting DDR may still come as late as 1H02.

• Meanwhile, Intel will launch 'Tulloch', its next generation chipset supporting RDRAM in mid-2002. Tulloch features an enhanced I/O Control Hub, or ICH4, designed to further increase the I/O bandwidth from the current ICH2.

• VB Primasia Opinion: As the outcome of competition between RDRAM and DDR SDRAM remains indeterminable, we agree with the consensus understanding in Taiwan that DDR makes better business sense and should win the day due to its open standard, evolutionary business model. However, Intel's strong endorsement and technological superiority of RDRAM may alter the course of industry development. Should RDRAM win out to become the mainstream memory architecture, Taiwan's DRAM makers will suffer due to their late start in the race.

LindaLiu@Primasia.com +886-[0]2-2547-8867