By William Fellows
We get the sense IBM Corp has another of those gargantuan OEM technology deals up its sleeve; this one appears to be hung up on Compaq Computer Corp’s management challenges. IBM, which has already signed Dell and Acer to multi-year, multi-billion dollar technology supply and exchange agreements, was thought to have been working on a similar wide-ranging arrangement with Compaq until the company hit the rocks and executive management was jettisoned. It may only be a temporary hiccup though, IBM hinted.
Included in any deal would likely be the use of IBM’s foundry services to fab Alpha RISC. IBM has made no secret about the fact that it has been talking to Compaq about such an arrangement, it appears to have provided a useful introduction to discussions about a broader relationship.
The Federal Trade Commission made it a condition of the sale of most of Digital Equipment Corp’s Alpha assets to Intel Corp last year that at least two other companies aside from Intel must manufacture the chip. Unbeknownst to Big Blue, Compaq tossed IBM’s name into the ring, along with Samsung Electric Co, and the two subsequently began discussions.
Last month an Alpha marketing executive let it be known that Compaq will be making Alpha chips using a copper technology one the process and feature size reaches 0.18 microns. Industry watchers note that only IBM is fabbing copper chips in an 0.18 micron process. Intel and Samsung certainly aren’t, something which adds more weight to the suggestion. IBM said its foundry services are not core to its microelectronics business but provide a useful way to put other kinds of deals on the table.
