Friday, February 18, 2005
Infineon Technologies AG has created a dedicated business unit called Aeneon that will offer cheaper memory chips to small PC makers.
Infineon has not been positioned to supply the many "white box" PC makers, said Carsten Gatzke, Aeneon's general manager. The new unit has contracted with distributors to serve the fragmented market.
Aeneon has so far signed contracts with with the Polish distributor Wilk Elektronik along with Arrow Microtronica and Memory Solution, Wintec and Swissbit. It is also seeking Asia distributors which it will announce shortly, Gatzke said.
Infineon executives said this week the move to address the white box market is part of an overall strategy to address both the high- and low-end of the DRAM market.
While the majority of white box PC makers are small, the market is huge: In some regions they they control 90 percent of the local market. Their market share is greatest in high-growth regions like Eastern Europe, Latin America and China. Even in western Europe and North America, the small PC sellers still control up to 30 percent of the market. "Especially in the U.S., this translates into significant quantities since the market as a whole is so huge," said.
OEMs generally provide DRAM suppliers with their own set of specifications. In contrast, white box vendors generally buy DRAM modules compatible with standard motherboards from Taiwanese manufacturers. "These are different from OEM motherboards," Gatzke said.
Product testing also differs. While OEMs typically specify DRAMs for a relatively broad range of applications — from PCs to servers to networking devices — Aeneon will supply the white box market with DRAMS tested for the use in specific environments. "This is of course a different approach," Gatzke said. "It means that Aeneon products are only guaranteed to work in their specific target applications." Hence, they are cheaper.
Infineon produces the low-cost chips at its fabs around the world. It also buys modules and ICs from external contractors. "In the white box market, you typically don't find powerful workstations with huge memory configurations," said Gatzke. Hence, he expects smaller sales of high-density and high-performance modules compared to the parent company.
By: DocMemory
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