SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Intel Corp. Tuesday confirmed industry sources that it will phase out its discount program of bundling Direct Rambus DRAMs with its Pentium 4 processors to PC integrators and white box makers.
An Intel spokesman said the price premium of Direct RDRAM memory has dropped sharply and Intel no longer needs the bundling incentive to spur Pentium 4 sales. Up to this point, Pentium 4 is supported solely by Rambus DRAM chips.
Nathan Brookwood, principal of InSight64 Research, Saratoga, Calif., said Intel itself has also cut the Pentium 4 prices so steeply that the discounted bundled program with Rambus is no longer effective.
Other sources at Platform 2001 Conference here also believed that once Intel introduces its Brookdale 845 chipset supporting SDRAM memory, there was no longer a pressing need to offer Direct Rambus discounts.
The Intel spokesman also said a half-year rebate program to PC OEMs to encourage Pentium 4 shipments is being phased out as no longer needed as well.
Platform 2001 exhibitors said the end of Intel discounts to encourage Direct Rambus usage will now put RDRAM and DDR rival memories on almost the same competitive footing.
Avo Kanadjian, Rambus Inc. vice president of worldwidemarketing, said his firm has no concerns about this, because RDRAM prices have been lowered so much that no major premium exists now over DDR.
Asked about any fallout of Intel's discontinuance of its RDRAM discount incentive programs, Kanadjian said only Intel was qualified to address the question.
