Samsung And Digital Work On Alpha MPU Agreement

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February 11, 1998 (7:09 AM EST)

Samsung And Digital Work On Alpha MPU Agreement

By Mark Hachman,

Korea's Samsung Electronics said it plans to form a subsidiary to pursue and market RISC microprocessors following a preliminary agreement with Digital Equipment to obtain the rights to Digital's Alpha chip. Earlier this week, the two companies said they continued to negotiate final details of the technology pact.

Under the tentative agreement, Samsung will obtain the rights to develop future derivatives of the Alpha chip. The South Korean chip maker has a license to produce ICs based on Digital's 21164, 21164PC, and 21264 Alpha architecture.

Samsung executives declined this week to comment specifically upon the new subsidiary's purpose -- whether it would handle new chip designs, where it would be based, or where it would fit within Samsung's corporate hierarchy. The subsidiary has not yet been given a name.

"At this time, only the [letter of intent] has been established," said Y.J. Kim, director of marketing at Samsung Semiconductor, the company's U.S.-based chip subsidiary in San Jose, Calif. "It is my understanding that a number of details remain to be finalized."

Digital executives, however, said the new Samsung subsidiary would focus on sales and marketing "to create volume and demand for low-cost [Alpha] systems." Harold D. Copperman, senior vice president and group executive of Digital's Digital Products Division in Hudson, Mass., said his company will neither contribute engineering resources nor any personnel to the Samsung subsidiary.

"Samsung's [Alpha] focus is at the low end, rather than the high end," Copperman said. "Samsung will build and sell Alpha chips, for which Digital may be a customer."

However, Samsung's Kim responded that Copperman's characterization of Samsung's focus "may be incorrect."

Copperman also said Mitsubishi Electronics had suspended its partnership with Digital in jointly developing the Alpha chip. However, a spokesperson for Mitsubishi Electronics America in San Jose released a statement from Japan by the parent company that said:

"As for our position on the Alpha, although our joint development contract with Digital Equipment Corp. is still in effect, we have delayed the next phase of the development process. The primary reason for this delay is the fact that we are currently conducting a general review of our microcontroller business as a whole."

The review was described as part of the typical year-end reviews Japanese businesses conduct, the U.S. spokesman said. The Japanese fiscal year ends in March.

Mitsubishi has not yet made a decision to license the 21264 version of the Alpha chip, which Digital announced last week. The 21264 is expected to yield speeds of 1 GHz -- or 1,000 MHz -- by 2000, Digital executives said.