Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: 1 Megabit DRAMs Message-ID: <2287@cbmvax.UUCP> Date: Tue, 1-Sep-87 13:38:05 EDT Article-I.D.: cbmvax.2287 Posted: Tue Sep 1 13:38:05 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 3-Sep-87 00:48:40 EDT References: <8708290953.AA14970@cogsci.berkeley.edu> Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA Lines: 85 in article <8708290953.AA14970@cogsci.berkeley.edu>, bryce@COGSCI.BERKELEY.EDU (Bryce Nesbitt) says: > Keywords: cost > > In article <> dave@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) writes: >> >> By the way, TI still makes DRAMs too... > > I believe that you will find that TI makes (256K) DRAMS... in Japan. They > then import them and stamp their little "Texas" picture on them. Actually, TI makes quite a few of their 256K DRAMs in Singapore. So do many of the Japanese, since it's more expensive to make the no-profit items in Japan. All the "TI" label implies is that the part was made somewhere in the world by TI or a company controlled by TI. It's not like they're buying DRAM from NEC and then stamping the TI name on it. After all, they do learn from making the parts, even if they don't profit from them in cash terms. > As far as I know Micron Technology of Boise Idaho is the only _volume_ US > DRAM producer that survives. I've got a Micron 64K part here that was made in Korea. I don't know, maybe they make their 256K parts in the US, maybe not. The one thing for certain, Micron is the only US based DRAM producer that expects to make a living at DRAM production. Perhaps the only one outside of Korea, maybe, that expects this (I think the Koreans can still turn a profit on DRAM, but that probably won't last long). > TI has sued several Japanese DRAM producers for patent violation. TI does > appear to be using the DRAM as a "process driver" again. A "process > driver" means that new technology and processes are tried out on the RAMS > first, then moved into other products. Every Japanese company does the same thing. Perhaps with TI patents :-), but otherwise, just the same. > I have heard rumors that as part of the fallout of the Japan <=> US trade > games, AMD and others may start producing DRAM again. I don't know, I suppose if DRAM prices rise again, others may get into the act. I'd expect someone like AMD to move in with extremely fast RAM in high densities to support something like, I dunno, maybe a high-speed RISC machine like the AMD29000. The faster bus cycle isn't going to help if you can't run your memory that fast. And it's going to hurt if you're stuck with low density static devices. > What really blows me away is that while bare chips are hit by the import > duties, *completed assemblies* are not. If I assemble my N megabyte Amiga > memory boards in the USA with US components, US PC boards and US labor it > will cost *more* for the _chips_ than if I contract out to use Japanese > components, Japanese PC boards and Japanese labor. Actually, considering the cost of doing anything in Japan these days, you're probably OK building in Japan, but not all that much better. Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea are the places of choice these days for manufacturing. But what do you expect. The duties are a POLITICAL solution to a problem that they believe exists due to the lobbying efforts of the IC industry. No one in the position to really understand the situation is in the position to do anything politically about it, if there even were a valid political solution. In this case, laws enacted to please the IC industry can very certainly hurt the board manufacturers, and perhaps drive even more to build out of the US. > BTW: Micron makes excellent ram chips, and hires pond-scum lawyers to do > their marketing via the US Government. Tha's my opinion. Actually, the Micron parts I've dealt with were substandard. Their standard 64K parts were too slow to use on the C128, while their "A" parts were OK, but generally slower than other parts from other vendors. > "The USA has nearly 1 lawyer for every 365 people. That's one a day per > person per year! In Japan the ratio is something like 1 to 9000. Obvious > export possibilities..." > -Stan Krute Now there's an idea. > ----- > |\ /| . Ack! (NAK, EOT, SOH) > {o O} . > ( " ) bryce@cogsci.berkeley.EDU -or- ucbvax!cogsci!bryce > U "Success leads to stagnation; stagnation leads to failure." -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga Usenet: {ihnp4|caip|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh "The A2000 Guy" PLINK : D-DAVE H BIX : hazy "God, I wish I was sailing again" -Jimmy Buffett