DRAM in short supply, Enron blamed

THERE'S TOO MANY computer related stories in which Enron apparently has a part for us to ignore any more - ranging from a semiconductor business blamed for pushing up share prices, to a Web site being threatened by the Republican Party of Texas to pull its site down now and cease and desist.

Alan Abelson, writing in Barron's Online, talks about Enron's global semi services unit which says that the unit was fed so much good info about the plans of contract buyers of DRAM that prices started to go up, even though there was a glut.

Regular INQ readers will remember semiconductor analysts and hacks alike were astonished that suddenly contract prices started to rise, even though we had good reason to believe there was still a glut of parts not so much in the channel as in the Dramurai's warehouses. A lot of hedging of prices, profits and margins, says Abelson.

That report is here, and you'll need to subscribe to read it.

Meanwhile, www.enronownsthegop.com has had a very stiff letter from lawyers representing the Republican Party of Texas, who object to the trademark elephant somehow being mixed up with the Enron logo. "The public is likely to be deceived into believing that your website, including your misappropriation of the RPT's trademark protected symbol, is sponsored by or affiliated with the RPT," part of the letter goes.

Possibly unlikely, if you read the news story on the Web site with links to the letter, here.

Back on the main pages of the Wall Street Journal we learn of a whole sheaf of disclosures that show ex-Compaq director Kenneth Lay bombarded Mr George W. Bush, when he was governor of Texas, with letters and cards wishing him a happy birthday and suggesting all sorts of oilish opportunities in the offing.

When he was fighting to win the governorship of Texas, Mr Bush received $312,000 from Enron officials over the space of two campaigns.

And of course in the US there's such a thing as open government, which the Mother of Parliaments here in Blighty is slow to learn about.

Open Secrets catalogues contributions by large corporations to US political parties and we're in a fresh election cycle now.

Here's the top 20 IT contributors at this page, with Microsoft up there at number one, giving 61 per cent of its $1,167,162 to the Republican Party, and 39 per cent to the Democrats.

EDS, which now has all the UK tax records for some odd reason, gives 74 per cent of its $327,000 2002 donations to the Republican party, while strange entrants include Gateway Ink at number four. Intel is way down at number 16 while Dell Corp is at number 18.

And we hear from a reader in Canada that Dell is reporting a big shortage of DRAM... What can it all mean? µ