Conference 7.286::digital

    Well, I work in Hudson, and they haven't told us anything like that.
    What has been made public, is that they are in fact looking for an
    equity investment from AMD. This will allow addition clean room space
    to be activated in Fab 6 earlier than scheduled. 
    
    Rumors abound!
    
    bob

    re -1
    well, if you haven't heard about it, and you WORK there... 
    
    then it must be true!
    
    t.

    I work in Hudson as well, and that particular rumor is gaining a life
    of it's own. It would finally mean we are serious about becomming a
    player in the merchant business. Our value is our excess capacity in
    my opinion. And every day we have excess capacity is another day lost.
    Pay no attention to the author in .1, he's getting long in the tooth
    ;-)
    Joel 

    Folks,
    
    	The STL has in place a freeze on rumors.  Get with the plan.

>    What has been made public, is that they are in fact looking for an
>    equity investment from AMD. 
    
    Made public to whom?  All that has been made public at this point in
    time is Digital will be producing about 2 Million 486's a year for AMD
    at the South Queensferry plant over the next few years.  
    
    I have heard many rumors that include AMD and others, but all they are
    at this point is rumors.
    
    -Bruce 

A couple of years ago IBM was on the verge of closing down everything in
Burlington VT, but now IBM is gunning to be a major semiconductor merchant.
DEC has had fewer and lower volume products, but from and engineering and
technology standpoint, I'd guess that they were in IBM's class.  IBM jumped
into the merchant market with both feet, but weren't really prepared to
deliver.  From what I've observed, DEC has taken a more measured approach.
Besides the deal with AMD, there are also deals with a number of IHVs for
PCI chips supporting Ethernet and graphics, and of course, Alpha chips and
supporting chips.  And all of this is publicly announced and reported on
regularly in trade news such as EE Times.

> A couple of years ago IBM was on the verge of closing down everything in
> Burlington VT, but now IBM is gunning to be a major semiconductor merchant.

  Does IBM manufacture IC's in Burlington, VT? If not, did they used to? Just
curious.

>>  Does IBM manufacture IC's in Burlington, VT? If not, did they used to? Just
>>  curious.
    
    Yes, and after some downsizing and a few ups and downs over the past
    couple of years is doing very well.
    
    Larry

    
    Plant is actually in Essex, Vermont.  Essex is near Burlington.
    
    Ken

RE: -.1

You are right.  The main IBM plant is located in Essex Junction, just east
of Burlington.  For whatever reason, however, IBM refers to it as IBM
Burlington.

Kind of like the way we used to refer to our former "Burlington" plant which
was actually in South Burlington ( a separate city, not the south end of
Burlington, VT)


Larry

    >For whatever reason, however, IBM refers to it as IBM Burlington.
    
    	Probably for the same reason that sports teams who play in
    	suburban sites use the name of the nearby city...
    
    	Besides, the "New York Giants" has a nicer ring than the
   	"East Rutherford, New Jersey, Giants."            
    
    					andrew

   Worldwide News                    LIVE WIRE
   Digital, Samsung announce Alpha ... Date: 18-Jun-1996
          Digital, Samsung announce Alpha microprocessor agreement
   
         Digital and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced an 
   agreement forging an alliance to develop and support a high volume 
   market for products based on Digital's industry-leading 64-bit Alpha 
   RISC architecture.  No financial terms were disclosed.
         The agreement licenses Samsung as an alternate source 
   manufacturer of current and future implementations of Digital's 
   high-performance Alpha microprocessors.  It is expected that Samsung 
   will produce its first Alpha chips in 1997. 
         In addition, the agreement grants Samsung a license to market, 
   sell, and distribute worldwide Alpha microprocessors.  Under the 
   agreement, Digital and Samsung also will engage in joint development 
   projects related to the Alpha microprocessor family.
         "We are extremely pleased to create this alliance with Samsung, 
   one of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers," said Digital 
   Chairman Robert B. Palmer.  "This alliance represents a significant 
   endorsement of Digital's Alpha architecture -- the foundation of 
   Digital's global leadership in 64-bit computing.  Digital has an 
   important relationship with Samsung as a customer, partner and supplier 
   and we expect this alliance to significantly strengthen the ties 
   between the two companies."
         Yoon Woo Lee, president and CEO of Semiconductor Business, 
   Samsung Electronics, said, "The Alpha microprocessor was chosen for 
   Samsung's CPU business because of its many strengths including the 
   highest performance and efficient and outstanding architecture for the 
   Windows NT operating system.
         "We will work with Digital to build solid teamwork and 
   partnership between the two companies . Specifically, through the joint 
   development program, both companies can develop devices that are cost 
   competitive and high performance.  Samsung Electronics will establish 
   the Alpha microprocessor business as one of its highly value-added 
   businesses," added Lee.
         Palmer said Digital is experiencing strong demand for its Alpha 
   products, which were first introduced in 1992.  Recently, the company 
   announced that its total Alpha system and related revenues have totaled 
   nearly $9 billion since its introduction.
         "This new agreement with Samsung, along with our state-of-the-
   art fabrication plant in Hudson, Mass., and our existing second source 
   relationship with Mitsubishi Electric Co. of Japan, assures that we 
   have the manufacturing muscle to support future demand for Alpha 
   microprocessors," Palmer said.  "We are excited to have Samsung on our 
   Alpha team."
         The agreement also provides Samsung with the right to distribute 
   the cutting-edge Digital FX!32 software translation technology.  The 
   Digital FX!32 technology, which is scheduled for general release later 
   this year, gives Alpha users transparent access to 32-bit Windows x86 
   applications on the Windows NT operating system.  This will greatly 
   augment the broad portfolio of applications available on Alpha/Windows 
   NT systems with comparable or better performance than on x86 systems.
         "Windows NT will be a dominant operating system in future years," 
   Palmer and Lee said.  "This alliance between Digital and Samsung 
   further distributes the broad benefits of Alpha and Digital FX!32 
   translation technologies to users requiring x86 Windows applications."
         Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd is the world's leading producer of 
   semiconductor memory products and a $21 billion affiliate of the 
   Samsung Group, an $84 billion Korea-based conglomerate.  Its total 
   annual semiconductor sales exceeded $8 billion last year and is ranked 
   the sixth largest semiconductor manufacturer.  The company also 
   develops, manufactures and markets audio and video products, home 
   appliances, computers and peripheral products, display products and 
   telecommunications and information systems.

    This give us two Japanese distribution channels:  Mitsubushi and
    Samsung.  This should now provide the channel we need for volume
    shipments.  Anyone know how much Mitsubushi has contributed with its
    agreement with Digital?

    Future demand?  I hope there is future demand that requires Samsung's
    manufacturing capacity.
    
    Bob

    .13 - Samsung is Korean
    

    Samsung is Korean, not Japanese.  Their current business is mostly
    memory chips (dram).  That business is losing margins fast.

	Samsung is Korean.

							mike

    re .13
    >Anyone know how much Mitsubushi has contributed with its
    >agreement with Digital?
    
    Our partnerships concerning Alpha have been mostly failures:
    	Alpha 2nd source: Mitsubishi, result: exactly squat (no chips)
    	FAB6 partner: Cirrus, result: cancelled
        Alpha partner: Olivetti, result: quietly disolved
    
    The stock market doesn't appear overly joyed with the Samsung deal.
    We've cried wolf just too many times.
    Kratz

    Aww, go on, put back the bit about the "Digital SemiConductor Shuffle"
    from your original reply...

    see 4673.10

    You haven't heard the last of Mitsubishi.

    re .21  You're right, they're shipping a ton of cars and trucks in the
    PRC (People's Republic of China).  Maybe they're too busy making money
    with automobiles to worry about chips.

    >> You haven't heard the last of Mitsubishi.
    
    To be truthful, I've heard nothing from or about them since the deal
    was originally announced several years ago.
    
    Is this what they mean by a "silent partner"??
    

    Actually, Mitsubishs Motors and Mitsubishi Electronics are completely
    seperate companies and have been since the 1940s.  They were seperated
    as part of the outcome of World War II.
    
    The electronics company went so far as to make a statement to this
    effect around the time the Mitsubishi Motors was getting flack for
    sexual harassment at their Normal IL plant.

    >> Alpha partner: Olivetti, result: quietly disolved
    
    Not correct, Olivetti still have Alpha systems on their pricebook.
    

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 Digital - Report about Hudson facility false
	{Livewire, Worldwide News, 20-Jun-96}
   (The June 20 edition of the "Boston Herald" contained an erroneous story
 about closing the Hudson, Mass. facility.  This story has been picked up by
 several other media sources in the U.S.  Charlie Christ, vice president and
 general manager, Components Division, has sent out the following statement via
 wire services.)
 
   Contrary to a published report, Digital is not closing its Hudson facility.
 As stated previously, Digital is phasing down a prior generation of 0.5
 micron process semiconductor technology and moving to the next generation of
 0.35 technology, in support of its high-performance Alpha chips.  This is
 consistent with normal semiconductor practices in the industry.  The
 phase-over of technology and employees from its FAB-4 fabrication line to its 
 FAB-6 line, all in the same complex, began a year ago.  This change has no
 effect on employment.