Samsung second-sourcing Alpha MPU

Electronic News, June 24, 1996 by Sarah Cohen

Maynard, Mass.--Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) and Samsung Electronics have entered into an agreement which licenses Samsung as an alternate source manufacturer of current and future implementations of Digital's Alpha 64-bit Alpha RISC microprocessors. From Digital's perspective, this alliance is an opportunity to increase product capacity for its Alpha chip, widely understood to be the industry's fastest MPU in terms of operating frequency but thought less attractive to manufacturers than slower, cheaper solutions that more easily integrate into popular systems.

The agreement grants Samsung a license to market, sell and distribute worldwide Alpha microprocessors and to make Alpha derivative products. Digital and Samsung will moreover engage in joint development projects related to the Alpha microprocessor family. Although financial terms were not disclosed, the companies revealed that Samsung will likely produce its first Alpha chips in 1997.

The agreement also allows Samsung to distribute Digital's FX!32 software translation technology scheduled for general release this fall (EN, May 3). The technology gives Alpha users transparent access to 32-bit Windows x86 applications on the Windows NT operating system at 70 percent native Alpha speeds. The inability to run Windows NT software on an Alpha chip is seen by some industry observers as a hindrance to Alpha's success in the marketplace, but FX!32 software is expected to help make up for this lack with comparable or better performance than on x86 systems, according to Digital and Samsung.

Keith McDonald, senior VP of sales and marketing for Samsung, explained that this agreement from Samsung's perspective is more than just a second sourcing arrangement. "If you look at Samsung, our products are divided into four markets: computers, communications, consumer applications and semiconductors. If you look at all areas, what is most desirable are processors. And this licensing agreement is to round out our high-end requirements in each segment. In the long-term, the ability to make Alpha derivatives allows our consumer group to open new markets. In the near term, there are high-end homes for Alpha in communications, satellite and switching."

Charlie Christ, VP and GM of Digital's components division, expressed the benefits of the agreement from Digital's point of view. "We expect that the chip will become very price attractive after the agreement is transacted" because the higher the volume of production, the cheaper a product can become.

Samsung will initially develop the Alpha chip for internal purposes, first in PCs and servers, then in communications, then in consumer products said Mr. McDonald. Samsung will also expose the possibilities of the Alpha chip to AST Computers, of which Samsung owns 41 percent.

Mr. McDonald also expressed enthusiasm for developing other Digital products. "There's another CPU in the Alpha family which is not considered part of this agreement. We would like to be considered (as a manufacturing, designing and distribution partner with Digital for this chip)." The agreement between Digital and Samsung as it stands now includes the EV56 incarnation of the Alpha 21164 and a next generation Alpha chip which has yet to be announced.

Mr. McDonald also addressed concerns regarding Samsung's inability to produce a Hewlett-Packard (HP) Precision Architecture RISC chipset in an agreement between HP and Samsung in 1989: "We weren't in a position to do that at that time; we weren't prepared for microprocessors. But since then, we've become leaders in DRAM and ASIC production; we've grown from four fabs to seven with eight and nine coming."